Wow Wow!
Today was our first full day on the Beagle. It did not disappoint.
Our first activity was a visit to the highlands of Floreana Island. This island is mostly uninhabited. We took the panga boats to a small dock. As part of the briefing for the day, Walter the Guide will tell us what type of landing we will do - dry landing (feet will not get wet so ok to wear your hiking shoes), wet landing (feet will get wet so maybe wear water shoes), etc. This was a dry landing.
We took a small chivo (bus-truck thing) up to the highlands. From there we walked a trail where we saw GIANT TORTOISES living in the wild. Wow! True it's actually part of a protected reserve area but OMG it's giant turtles in. the. wild.
We also saw caves the first Europeans settled in when they arrived. If you get a chance read up on it as the story is filled with interesting characters, drama, and murders. Some of the descendants of these folks still live in the Galápagos. The caves are near a natural spring which made this island a stop for whalers, sailors, and pirates. Also, as there were thousands of giant tortoises here that passing ship crews would take on board their ships for food. Giant tortoises can live for months w/o food or water so people would load their ships to have fresh meat on the seas. This happened so much the turtles actually went extinct on this island at one point. Sad.
Back at the beach we saw lots of sea lions, crabs, and Marine Iguanas. It's mating season for the iguana so the colors on the males is a vibrant red and green. We also checked a big wooden barrel that is the "post office" where people put addressed post cards for other travelers to pick up and hand deliver to the addressee. There were several for Seattle, Washington so we grabbed two. This little site is an imitation of an actual site on the other side of the island where in the 18th century, lonely whalers would drop of letters just hoping a passing sailor might pick up and help deliver. It's just a tourist tradition now. Neat story though.
After returning to the sailboat, it motored to a beautiful spot to have lunch. Meals are set out at a big table where all 13 of us passengers can eat family style. We've got a great group of fellow passengers that are all super nice, adventurous, and full of wonder. They are from all over the world - Canada, Netherlands, England, and Nevada.
Next we took the panga boats and snorkeled at a place called Devil's Crown. Amazing! It's a crater of a volcano that is mostly submerged. We saw tons of fish, a reef shark, blue footed boobies, and a sea turtle. Dave caught a lot of it on his GoPro.
Later in the day we spent time on another portion of the island where on one side we saw a lagoon full of FLAMINGOS! So elegant, so pink. Then we walked to another beach and saw Sea Turtles floating at the waters edge waiting for dark to come dig a big hole to lay their eggs. And then we actually saw some come up on the beach to dig their hole. Oh My God!! We had lucky timing as it was late evening, very high tide, and a relatively cool day so some female turtles decided to come out of the sea a bit early. People are not allowed on the beach after dark because that is the usually egg-laying time. It was mind-blowing. Definitely a highlight.
Later, after dark we discovered that the sailboat was surrounded with a hundred or so Galapagos Sharks!! It was incredible! They were hunting these FLYING FISH that would occasionally pop up and swim/fly out of the water...then the sharks would swarm and eat them on the way back down. Several of the flying fish would fly smack into the side of the boat so some sharks and a big sea lion would hang out their waiting for an easy meal. We used headlamps and flashlights to light up the water to see the sharks. Twice a flying fish actually landed in the boat and had to be "rescued" which meant tossed back in just to be snatched by a shark. The whole scene was phenomenal and intense and it was hard to look away. Definitely another highlight. This whole event went on for about an hour until we pulled anchors and sailed away.
What an incredible day!
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