"Goooooood Morning My friends. Welcome to another exciting day. Breakfast will be in 10 minutes". Good morning Roberto we said from our bed. These 7am starts are just too much – we thought we were coming on the cruise to relax!
Still at Isabela but in yet another part of the island, this morning's excursion was a walk at Urbina Bay. Here there were many more penguins on the beach but our walk was to be inland. Roberto told us this beach was used frequently by nesting turtles so we had to be very careful where we walked.
The walk revealed many giant land iguanas. It was hard to spot them at first because of their colouring but one you saw one, you saw dozens of them. The big giveaway was the trail of their tail in the sand.
big fella
We had all brought our snorkelling gear with us on this trip and left it on the beach whilst we walked. More snorkelling after the hot walk was very welcoming. And we absolutely loved it here. For here the penguins swam all around us as we snorkelled. They just ignored us and got on with the business of catching their fish. Bryan had his underwater camera with him again and you can see how they just ignored us but also came so so close to us. At one point a penguin spent a few minutes just bobbing on the surface right next to Jody's head. It was wonderful. Especially when you look under water at them and see their little feet flapping as they bob on the surface. So cute. And almost as good as the snorkelling with the sea lions.
A quick trip back to the Anahi, for a rinse-off and some snacks - we love the snacks the chef makes for when we get back every day. We never know what we are going to get and as long as we get there before the Czech girls man handle everything and eat it all, we can be sure we will enjoy them too.
Then we were at Tagus Cove for more snorkelling. Hayley and Simon took the kayak and went around the bay. We went snorkelling with everybody else. The sea was a little bit choppy here and Jody was a bit concerned as she doesn’t like the water going over her head. But as soon as she looked under the surface, there to greet her was a massive turtle.
penguins & pelicans
This sort of made up for it but then Bryan dived lower to have a look at something and when he came back up again, he did so right underneath her and head-butted her right in the tummy knocking all the breath out of her and letting lots of water in. That’s it. Enough! She got out and into the dingy.
Fortunately, Hayley and Simon had paddled over and Simon was itching to have a snorkel. So a rather precarious changeover took place and Jody was now in the kayak. Jody and Hayley went off around they bay in a much more genteel fashion and went to see the penguins on the rocks.
Back to the Anahi to have a quick shower and dry off, then lunch before having a short while to relax. We had spent 4 days on this boat now and hadn’t really had time to enjoy it as we were always busy. So we settled down for a little snooze.
Ten minutes later....Bing bong! "Goooood afternoon everyone" Roberto announced. "We have whales!".
Wow that was way better than a snooze! Everyone dashed outside and the Captain killed the engines. Some humpbacked whales were moving along in front of us, they weren't really close but close enough to see their spouts . They disappeared for a while then reappeared behind us. Wow what a day this was turning out to be.
all of us together
Read photo story!
This afternoon's activitity was a climb up a volcano. We again set off in the dingies for Tagus. The heat had gone out of the day by now though and the walk was cool. Roberto pointed out some very old grafitti carved into the rocks in 1836. It wasn't so frowned upon then to carve into the rocks here. You certainly wouldn't try it now though that's for sure!
We all climbed to the top and enjoyed the fabulous views. Roberto lined all our cameras up for a group photo just as the sun was setting. It was a great end to the day.
This evening we enjoyed a beer on deck before dinner then watched the sun go down as the Anahi set off for Fernandina Island.
Bryan had also made a video of everyone today so we all enjoyed watching that first.
You can see it here
Sailing in the evening means no travelling at night so we should be in for a good nights’ sleep too. Mind you we are so tired every day from all the activities, we should sleep like logs every night.
We arrived at Fernandina just as the sun disappeared in a firery sky and another boat appeared to keep us company.
Fernandina was supposed to be beautiful so we were even more excited about tomorrow.
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Isabela, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Monday, December 14, 2015
