April 13, 2023
What an amazing day! The sun woke me up through the thin curtains around 6, and I snoozed a lot to make it to breakfast at 7:30 in the courtyard. Humidity and heat were already in full force. Breakfast was good, a plantain patty thing and egg and fruit. Paulina met us and we took a short walk to the interpretation center, just past a university building associated with University of Chapel Hill. The interpretation center was a good intro to the island, with an indoor museum-like display that Paulina took her time explaining to us to orient us to the Galapagos and its founding, including Darwin, its political connection to Ecuador, and the geology. It poured on and off while we were in there, and we decided to keep going into the rain with most of us prepared with raincoats. The next part was a little hike, on paved stones and some wood boardwalk. Though we got drenched the rain soon stopped, leaving slippery wood sections that I took very slowly. We walked to some boardwalk viewpoints of Darwin Bay, and learned about local birds, lizards, and more that we saw along the way. I was thrilled to see my first blue footed booby down below one of these viewpoints!
We walked back to the hotel for a quick change, then off to an included lunch at a local restaurant, rice and chicken and soup, that was pretty good. Finally around 1:30 we boarded our boat from the town pier, and off we went to Isla Lobos, a little island off the main one, further down in the undeveloped areas. Parts of the Galapagos like the national park lands are very protected, with rules around permits for visitors and requirements to go with a guide. Here, only two boats were allowed to visit per day, so we were the only ones on the little undeveloped island, no other humans or boats in sight. We boarded a dingy to take us to the shallow steps onto the island, which were inhabited by baby sea lions. We tried to walk up the slippery rocks next to the steps, but it didn’t go great for me as the first test person so we sort of clapped the sea lions awake and they moved for us, hopping in the water and splashing around. It was a very rocky hike, and I liked having the walking stick they lent me.
The island’s attraction were the birds. First, we saw these huge black and white birds, some with big red goiters (males). These were the frigate birds, who fly around the islands with their v-shaped tail feathers. The red-necked males sit around waiting for the flying females to notice them and choose one, and we got to see them look up and engorge their red goiters to try to attract the ladies. They were very weird and cool.
Then the exciting attraction for me, the blue footed boobies! I was super excited for these guys and we saw so many, often right on our trail so we had to sneak by so as to not upset them. We saw some doing a mating dance, and some nesting their eggs right in front of us (the males and females take turns with this task). Their feet change hues of blue based on how well they’ve recently eaten. They were so beautiful and cute and weird and I just loved them. It was so surreal to be the only ones on the island so close to these unique creatures.
Back on the boat, we had snacks and quickly geared up for our next snorkel adventure, along the coast of the island we had just walked. We jumped in from the boat and were in the water about 75 minutes this time, and I opted to leave my camera behind for the freedom and slight difficulty getting it to work, and others had go-pros and cameras. The reef was once again beautiful, with lots of colorful fish and a gentle current easily drifting us forward – amazingly the boat followed us to the end so we didn’t have to swim back. The real highlight here was the sea lions, who were jumping in the water and swimming with us! Several times I would see large movement to my side and get startled to see one shooting past. They were truly playing with us, twirling around and following us. It was magical! We got warned not to follow them lest they bite, but we didn’t have problems (though Chris said one of them playfully nibbled at her fingers at one point). I could see into their eyes and was worried they were going to bop into me several times, but they didn’t. Incredible!
The boat took us back to the pier, where we got our briefing for the next day and then left for our much-needed showers. Sunset was around now, not as amazing tonight. I got ready quickly and headed into town, getting cash at one of the 2 ATMs in town (I’ve been running out and anxious that my bank would freeze my account because I forgot to put a travel alert on it, and credit cards aren’t as ubiquitously used here, so this working out was a big success for me). I popped into a few tourist shops and got some cute souvenirs, ran into some of my group, then went and met Andy and Chris at a fancy restaurant they were eating at. I sort of ended up eating their appetizers that they couldn’t finish and drinking some wine, and they loved it and paid for me, it was very nice. The food was all local and beautiful and delicious, probably around standard New York prices so I was very happy. Back to the room by 9 for another early morning tomorrow, when we depart San Crisobal to our next island destinations!
travels.of.tara 