Thursday, 12 June 2014

Day 76, 77 - Galapagos - South Isabella Island


Photo Albums: Galapagos Day 1 - 2
                         Galapagos - Isabella South

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I think the boat must have anchored a couple of hours before dawn, when everything calmed down for a decent sleep.  Fortunately, the stomach did not give up, after all that 3D seesawing throughout the night.



When the breakfast bell rang, people were very slow in showing up......and there were a few off coloured faces, and a couple of missing souls....it was not a joyful scene, compared to yesterday.  

Some were just down right quiet, sipping liquid only......well, a small boat has many fun, sailing at night on it, is not one of them, I guess...and there were 4 more nights to go.  I was glad that I kept those sickness tablets. I was quietly crossing all my digits.

Couple were missing in action all together, until we boarded the zodiac for our morning landing - onto a small lava island, Tintoreras, just off Puerto Villamil of the largest Island in the archipelago, Isabella Island.




The Tintorera is formed by "aa" ( "ah-ah" - hard to walk ) lava, however, Juan, as we soon found out, he would walk on anything with ease, in his bare feet !! While mere mortals, like us, will be "ah-ah"-ing all the way.

"aa" lava with a discarded crab shell.
Soon we were distinguishing hoards and hoards of marine iguanas, from the lava background, lazing around, and on top of each other





And birds were swooping by,


And the odd sea lion droppings,


What is most interesting was, there seems to be a natural nursery for baby iguanas, where they could hide themselves amongst some lava holes, and with their shear numbers, maximising their survival from preying birds.



It seemed most had recovered from the night's rough sleep, and we were a joyful bunch again, by the time we got back to the boat. Soon we were kitted up for our first snorkeling. 

As I had a couple of near drowning incidents over the last 15 years, I was not confident to go without a life jacket, that proved to be a bit of a hinder at the beginning...however, with the abundance of sea lives around, I was soon swimming with a few sea lions..





It seemed almost everyone's appetite returned when lunch was served.  Soon, we were on our zodiac again, to head towards Pt. Villamil.  After another quarantine check, and funny enough, another $5 was extracted from each of us, to land.

Our first stop on the island, was the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center, supported by many International Organisations, among them, UNESCO.

When the Spanish first discovered the Giant Tortoise in the archipelago, they so named it Galapago, meaning "Tortoise" in Spanish.  And they are the biggest in the World.

The breeding center represents an effort to save the endangered tortoise after years of hunting by seafarers and pirates for food, and modern day encroachment by humans.

There are Giant Galapagos tortoises of many age groups, some as old as 100+years ( adults ), but the famous Lonesome George is not among them, to be exact, LATE Lonesome George, was a resident of another Island.




and some juveniles ( below 35 years )


And babies...in a nursery of their own


and of course, newborns and an egg hatchery.




After the breeding center, we then go explore the "Wall of Tears", a stone wall built by prisoners in a nearby, now abandoned penal colony.  Between 1945-59, a stone wall was built by prisoners, commanded by their jailers, purely for having something to do, as part of their hard labour term.





The walls was not built for any particular purpose nor was it properly constructed, we probably are only seeing the remnants of it, as this 25m high wall caused thousands of deaths, so the name "Wall of Tears".

But the "heavy energy" surrounding the Wall did not stop us from seeing a few tortoises and local birds.



and the odd police car.


Before we board our boat again, we had a bit of time on hand to walk around Puerto Villamil, a very small tourist based village, with a couple of pubs, hostels and tour operators.



Before we left the Island, one of our fellow passengers decided that terra firma was a better option, and left the boat for the rest of the trip.  I don't blame him if I were in the same state..!

And for us, it was more of the same for the night....but somewhat easier, it appeared.....

When I opened my eyes in the midst of calmness, the morning was a big contrast, it was as peaceful as it was pristine, with the sun peeping through in the distance, illuminating the volcano above Puenta Moreno, on the south western side of Isabella Island.







It was a joyful atmosphere at breakfast, it seemed everyone onboard had now gotten used to the rocky sleeps.  Soon, a bare footed Juan, our naturalist guide, was leading the charge, and we landed onto the Pachoehoe lavaland of Puenta Moreno.

The terrain remined me a little of walking on glaciers, replacing cavets with the man size cracks and lava tubes, criss-crossing the entire terrain. 



and here are some Lava Cactis, probably the only vegetation that can survive on lava, which has little retention ability for precipitations. 


And there were a few swamps around, a good place for passing flamingos to have a drink and feast on shrimps.  Unfortunately, their numbers were not anything worth writing to mum about.




The snorkeling that followed, Juan's local knowledge led us to discover a few seahorses, from the video below, without expert help, it would have been difficult to pick them out with their seamless camouflage.




and a very playful sea lion, brushed right pass.



Right after lunch, as the captain motored our way north, 




 to Elizabeth Bay, along the coast of Isabella, the cloud was gathering in the distance, it was worrisome......


But then, as soon as we started to board the zodiac for a water safari around the bay, the sky cleared up.


As our zodiac weaved around the mangroves in the bay, we had a field day sighting indigenous sea creatures as well as birds..


Spotted Eagle Rays


Blue Foot Booby

Blue Foot Booby



And then evening descended, we had dinner and our briefing for tomorrow....ready for another night of rocky sleeps...




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