Its only 1pm but I have to start writing before I forget – what a morning! We dinghyed into North Seymour Island where it was a”dry” landing ie you don’t land in water. At the beginning and end of the walk it was very rocky but in between it was sandy overlooking water.
At first it was a whole load of sea lions just lying in your path and there were quite a few baby ones. We passed a mother nursing a baby who had only been born about ½ an hour before we arrived. Luis had guided us to the spot as he had noticed the frigate birds around the birthplace fighting over the placenta. You could still see the trail of blood on the sand and the mother was also still bloody.
The island is home to a large colony of different species of seabirds – frigates of all kinds – mature, immature and some still fluffy chicks; the blue booby mainly juvenile ones (you can tell by the colour of the feet) and a quick glimpse of a red booby which is quite rare.
Further on the walk we started seeing the big land iguanas. We had already seen the smaller marine ones and also the Sally Light foot crabs which can only be found in the Galapagos. All told we were out for about 2 ½ hours. Some went out for a snorkel before lunch but George and I stayed on the boat and relaxed – for the first time this trip! It was great just staring at the water and trying to spot the marine life – we did see huge manta rays turning somersaults in the air before diving back under the sea.
After lunch we were on the move again to Bacches Beach on Santa Cruz Island. This one was not in the itinerary at all but we are supposed to see lots of flamingos – well we did see 1! This island started off beachy bust as we walked further inland we found ourselves at a brackish lagoon where we saw our one flamingo. The water was really cold so nobody went swimming so we stayed on the beach for at least an hour.
I finally made a fool of myself with those ****** dinghies! There was no landing from which to get in from – just straight from the beach. George was trying to hold the dinghy still while everyone clambered on board – I had no one to give me a helping hand so (I still have no idea how) I sort of somersaulted into the damn thing – very embarrassing but I did get in – now I just have to count the bruises when they start appearing!
We now know what has caused all the changes in the itinerary and it will affect our next cruise too. Baltra airport is closed for renovations (and has been for months); this means that the only point of arrival and departure for cruise passengers is the airport on Santa Cruz. Cruise ships can therefore not go so far away that they cannot get back to Santa Cruz in time to pick up and drop off passengers – remember some people have opted for only 4 days while others have the full 8 days
