Wave Riding Turtles

Saturday, July 11th - Wave Riding Turtles

This is our final day of our Galapagos cruise and our morning excursion is to Isla Espanola to see a different species of marine iguanas, nesting blue-footed boobies and albatross. Piles of large red and black marine iguanas lounge on the rocks near the landing site. They will become more colorful as mating season approaches, their legs turning a mossy green and the reds becoming more pronounced. We have arrived early to avoid conflict with other groups from a larger ship anchored off shore and I have plenty of quality time to spend with the iguanas. I take dozens of photos, each iguana seemingly more photogenic than the last. Most of the iguanas’ congregate together in piles, conserving their body heat and soaking in the morning sun but there are a few solitary iguanas, sitting perched atop rocks; Godzilla like figure heads, gazing out to sea. I am continually intrigued and delighted by these prehistoric creatures. The trail is rocky, uneven and slippery. We walk carefully along windswept cliffs splashed white with guano. It begins to rain making the desolate island all the more dramatic. Forceful surf rises up through a blowhole in the cliff below us; the water churning a frothy green, a stark contrast against the black and guano splashed cliffs. We come upon a windswept plateau with pairs of courting and nesting albatross. Their courting ritual is comical. They click their beaks together as if fencing flap their wings and return to beak clicking. We watch three albatross interact. Two are beak clicking, and a third one, saunters in sideways towards the courting pair. The dominant male rises up, squawking and infuriated and chases his competitor away. There are nesting blue-footed boobies and nesting albatross. Some birds sit on eggs while others preen snow-white fledglings. Some of the birds build nests adjacent to the trail and none of the birds are disturbed by our presence. We complete our island circle, returning to the "Land Before Time" where the marine iguanas congregate. I linger here as long as allowed, saying goodbye to my fantastic friends.

After lunch we have our final snorkeling adventure off a snow white sand beach crescent. There is a large outcropping rock some distance from shore and all of us swim out to circle the edifice. We haven't encountered much challenging surf, but it gives me security to know that one of our zodiacs is waiting on the far side of the outcrop, should any of us run into trouble. The surf surges somewhat as I circle the far side of the jagged outcrop but it's easy enough to maneuver and I swim towards John who is motioning to me excitedly. Taking his snorkel out of his mouth, he tells me that there is a white tipped reef shark below. I watch as John and Richard dive down to take a closer look. Disturbing the sharks’ afternoon nap, I see it swim off to find a more peaceful resting area. There are three sharks in this deeper sheltered area, each about six feet in length and apparently not a threat to us. Through most of our snorkeling adventures, my mask is in the water to observe the underwater wonderland below, but I periodically look up to orient myself in relationship to the other swimmers. When I next look up, I see that John has gathered another crowd and holds an inflated porcupine fish above the water. John submerges the fish and it struggles to deflate itself and swim back down to find a protected shelter on the sandy bottom. The puffer fish of the Galapagos will breathe a sigh of relief when John has left the islands. As we complete our circle of the rock, we see numerous needle fish, nearly translucent and swimming horizontally in the water. We've snorkeled almost and hour and motion to John that we should swim to shore. Having expended much more energy than I have, he is ready and we swim slowly back to the white sand crescent beach. Playful sea lion pups are swimming in the shallows as we wade from the water. The teen agers lounge on the sand, soaking up the afternoon sun and Art and I walk down the beach towards a rocky point. The fine white sand is like powder beneath my bare feet and sea lions and their pups bask on the sand, undisturbed by our presence. Art points to a shadow in the surf and tells me it is a sea turtle. I tell him it is a rock, but he persists in his sea turtle fantasy. A bit further on the rock rises to the surface, having morphed into an actual sea turtle and soon we see dozens of turtles in the waves. They are catching the waves and are back lit in the late afternoon sun; dark silhouettes of turtles, rising and falling with the surf. It's a magical and almost unbelievable sight and although I have my camera with me, the moment I begin to video this scene, my memory card flashes full. So, my patient readers, you will just need to believe me and imagine this remarkable turtle sighting. We find out later that this end of the beach is a turtle nesting area.

It's our final evening on the cruise and as usual, Alexis calls a 6:00 P.M. meeting to brief us on tomorrows schedule. Alexis has been taking photos of our group all week and has compiled a DVD of our trip. He lowers the blinds, puts on the DVD, and gives one to every family. After the showing, Art sees the blaze of the sunset through the lowered curtains and interrupts, suggesting that we all go topside to watch our final Galapagos sunset. Everyone abandons the meeting and I imagine that Alex was not pleased. His gift of the DVD was a nice one, but he was also setting the mood before handing out the surveys and tip envelops. The suggested tip amount is nearly twice, what the printed trip booklet recommends and we are somewhat confused. The final dinner of shrimp scampi and pork medallions is good, but not memorable; some of the other meals were better. It's been a wonderful week, but I'm ready to abandon ship. .