Day Seven

Bartolome is the first islet on offer this morning with a wakeup call at 5:30 for those eager for the climb. Stan heads off and returns with sneakers caked and stained with red mud even though he has had a thorough rinsing as he reboards the ship. Among the many highlights of the morning were the land iguanas which look quite plump and haughty in the photographs. This islet is usually under extreme drought conditions but has had rain this season so there are patches of green and of course, swaths of mud. To protect the environment there is a set of steps constructed by the park which is very unusual for the area - there are 376 steps and the climb is 120 metres which may not seem like much but in the heat and humidity is quite grueling. It certainly puts Stan in full relaxation mode for the rest of the day.

I opt for snorkeling off Sombrero Chino which is a small islet formed by volcanic activity and which is as the name suggests, shaped like a Chinese hat. I am teamed up with Peggy and Al and we are on the hunt for Galapagos penguins which have fewer feathers than their Antarctic cousins and therefore stay in more temperate waters. This snorkeling trip leaves from a sandy beach where the red sand is already hot at 9:15! We see a wide variety of sea stars. My favourite is a trio of gunmetal grey and orange ones that seem to really pop off the white sand below. We swim around jagged rocks and through tightish passages hoping for penguins but are dissappointed.

Meanwhile Stan is cruising the same general area in a glass bottom boat and, of course, he sees and captures great shots of them on shore!

Lunch and a nap later and we set off again to deep water snorkel on another section of the coastline of this islet. Right off the bat I see a white tipped reef shark and a dark coloured ray. There are schools of neon and grey surgeon fish and more sea stars. A huge school of little silver fish pass through us in a hurry and right behind them comes the penguin. He goes right between Peggy's legs! They move so fast that it is hard to believe. We have to surface to laugh and adjust our masks because when you smile underwater the water gets in. As I am adjusting my mask another penguin paddles by on top of the water not a foot in front of my face. We drift in this area watching for the wave of silver fish knowing that they are trying to keep in front of the penguins. We weren't sure if we saw one penguin multiple times or if there was a group until we finally saw three together. Stan had opted for a Zodiac ride so Al was manning our underwater camera. He got a great video which we will bore all of you with when we get home. Oh, and we saw a total of 5 sharks on this round most of which were about five feet long but one was much larger, the guide said maybe sixteen feet long and pretty scary looking.

Swimming with penguins - best travel day ever!