We fly out of Miami to Guayaquil, Ecuador which is on the coast. The flight is just over four hours and we land just before midnight. The customs line is long but the trip to the Hilton Colon takes no time and we are off to bed around 1 in the morning. Our wake-up call has been set for 5:10 a.m.
Day Two
A quick breakfast and we head back to the airport for our flight on Aerogal to Puerto Baquerizo on San Cristobel Island. We are met there by buses which take us about five minutes away to the pier where we see sea lions and the brilliant Sally Lighthouse crabs before we even get off the bus. Then there are octopus in the water and frigate birds overhead (which look like something prehistoric, like pterodactyl). Also we find Massimo Bassano on the pier and have a quick catch up with him recalling the time we spent with him on our Sienna expedition in 2006.
This is also when we discover that we will be going out to the ship on Zodiacs! We weren't quite prepared for this but they hand us life jackets, get us all on board and pile our carry on luggage in the middle. The driver is quite sedate and one of head naturalist gives us a brief introduction to onboard saftety and how to properly hold on, which by the way is by gripping the proferred arm securely around the forearm, and in no time we are approaching the National Geographic Endeavour.
As there are only 96 passengers we are all on board in no time. There is a reception in the lounge with fresh fruit and beverages and we do a very thorough safety drill thereafter. Lunch is served and the buffet is small and elegant and delicious with lots of variety. Then we have the mandatory orientation for visitors to the park before setting out for our first wet landing from the Zodiacs.
We have seen a large rock from the distance which looks like a big boot but we aren't headed there. We are headed to a white sand beach for our first nature walk and optional swim at a place called Cerro Brujo (Wizard Hill). From the time we get on the shore we are seeing sea lions of all sizes and shapes. There are little ones and really big ones. We walk around them and on the narrow parts of the path we walk over sleeping ones. Once in a while if you get too close, especially to a male, it will snort and bark to warn you not to come any closer. We aren't allowed to touch the animals but it is so tempting to reach out and feel their fur. The whiskers are long and quite stiff looking. We find out that they actually use them to hear sound vibrations in the water so they can follow the fish they have chosen to chase until the fish tires and becomes dinner.
The rocks are black, rough lava and they are covered with marine iguanas, lava lizards and Sally Lightfoot crabs.
The sky is full of birds looking for a fish supper and there are frigates, black lava gulls, pelicans and blue boobies! Yes, the boobies on the first day. None are wandering the shore but Stan took some stellar shots of them and the of the pelicans as they dove repeatedly for fish.
I spent my time tracking crabs. The shells are bright orange with wonderful patterns and the undersides are a lovely milky teal colour. With black lava rock as the backdrop they are quite spectacular to watch.
We head back to the boat for a quick shower and then head back to the lounge for the Captain's welcome which offers lovely appetizers and really delicious Grasshoppers to drink.
We are joined by a naturalist at our table for dinner (we sat with Massimo and one of the other onboard photographers at lunch). Having an expert to ask anything we want keeps the conversation quite lively. Most of the tables hold ten people and there is no assigned seating. We all have name tags and the ones who are adept at that sort of thing are quickly learning everyone's names.
There is no night life after dinner tonight. Everyone is quite exhausted but also quite happy. I must admit I fell asleep reading while Stan was downloading our photos. I couldn't even drag myself out of sleep long enough to brush my teeth - the first time that has happened in living memory!
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