Wildlife Day 3 starts at 4.20 am when Jim gets up to make a pot of tea. He decides not to come with us on today’s trip as all the getting on and off onto dinghies and boats was too much for his arm yesterday. At 5 am Mike and I are ready and waiting for the pre-booked water taxi that is supposed to be picking the crews up. At 5.15 am, despite calling the water taxi (and getting no answer) it has still not arrived so Mike takes to flashing the spotlight on and off then suddenly we see a boat coming towards us. It turns out to be the right taxi and he had picked up the other crews and had started heading for shore before someone realised we were not there. Being anchored so far out, no one could see us until we started flashing (so to speak).
Almost immediately we leave Puerto Ayora, it starts pouring with rain but by the time we arrive at the same ferry dock as yesterday the weather has cleared up. Today we have a different boat – and if yesterday’s was basic, today’s is positively very, very basic! Inside it stinks of diesel and upstairs has four wooden benches and four loungers which have definitely seen better days. All the covers are ripped and they are soaking wet and smelly. The floor is covered with a kind of astro turf and is covered with the debris of previous days’ lunches and insect livestock. The journey is slow. Very slow. The thing only travels at 7 knots and the island is twenty miles away. The boat is called The Poseidon. I hope it fares better than its namesake!
On the bright side, we are served breakfast – ham, eggs, cheese and brioche and arrive at Bartelome to a lovely sunny day. This island is a stark contrast to yesterday. It is a new volcanic island, very stark, but unbelievably beautiful in its own way. There are different type of volcanic rocks, lava flows and volcanic ash and colours of the landscape are a mixture of black, brown, purple, red and white (due to calcium deposits). There are only occasional plants – a little grey plant with white flowers (which look like a mixture of potentilla and heather) and cacti. The only things we see are tiny lava lizards. We can hear birds but see none. It is a very stark difference to yesterday.
Photo: A sunken volcanic crater
We hike right to the top of the hill on a decked wooden trail composing of walkways, platforms and alarmingly, 400 steps. After weeks on a boat where you do no aerobic exercise at all, it takes its toll but the views from the top are spectacular.
The walk back down is easier on the heart and lungs but hard on the knees. How I hate this getting older lark.
Just as we leave in the dinghy, we are rewarded with our first bit of wildlife, a blue footed boobie.
We are taken round to the other side of the island for some snorkelling. We both have our snorkel equipment today and I put on my gear with the usual level of trepidation, especially when I find out that I have to get into the water from the dinghy, which I hate. While everybody else flops backwards into the water off the side, I carefully lower myself in – no going under the surface for me, thank you! Actually Mike does the same as me but I’m sure he does it to make me feel better and not such a wimp.
We swim just a few yards away from the boat and immediately see our first marine animal – a shark! It glides past, hardly giving us a glance (thank goodness). He is probably about 6 feet long. He swims into the murk and is gone. We swim around the rocks. There are some lovely fish but nothing particularly exciting or spectacular that I haven’t seen before in the Caribbean. The we come across a huge shoal of blue things with yellow tails – really pretty. Swimming across more open water, away from the rocks Mike suddenly says “Look. Turtle. Right here!” And sure enough, less than five feet away is a large turtle. He swims towards us, has a look and carries on past. I stretch out my hand and stroke his back and he makes no effort to move away. How fantastic. He stays with us for a few minutes then gently glides away.
Popping my head out of the water, I see our guide swimming near me pointing to something just on the rocky shore. It’s a Galapagos penguin. I can’t believe my luck. Yesterday there were none. We swim to just below the rocks where he is standing all alone, looking, I have to say, rather dejected. I don’t know where the rest of the small colony are but there are hardly any sea lions either and the guide thinks it may have something to do with the recent tsunami. I am so pleased to see my first wild penguin. My trip to the Galapagos is now complete. If only I had an underwater camera. As usual, there is no fresh water shower so within half an hour, my salt covered hair is standing on hair like a punk, hence no photos of me!
Back on the boat, we are served lunch. Different boat, same meal, except this time we have water melon rather than golden melon, and when I am half way through a piece I remember the advice about never eating water melon as it doesn’t filter its water. I hope I don’t regret this tomorrow.
The journey back, all three hours of it, is tedious, boring and uncomfortable. Mike tries to sleep on one of the hard benches but gives up and lies on the floor.
I remember what he said about the insect wildlife living in it and lie on the bench, hanging on for dear life so that I don’t get thrown over the side. The lady on the bench behind me lands with a bump on the floor as the boat lurches over one particularly large wave and I hang on even tighter.
After the boat ride, it’s the bus ride. It’s interesting to watch the scenery change as we go through the island. It changes dramatically from rather scrubby brush around the coast to lush greenery as you go further inland. It’s strange seeing plants that used to grow in my garden at home growing here, but whereas they were rather small at home and had to be protected from frosts, here they grow profusely and to huge proportions – bamboos, smoke bush, flax, fatsia, ferns and loads of others that we can only grow as house plants in the UK. As usual as we head inland it starts to rain, stopping as we reach Puerto Ayuro on the opposite coast.
Mike and I go in search of an internet cafe only to find that internet access is slow to non-existent tonight, so we have a double ice cream instead.
When we get back to Jeannius, we find that Jim has been busy and has fixed the leaking hatch in the starboard companionway – or so he says! We’ll find out during the next tropical rainstorm. We reward him anyway by letting him watch two episodes of ‘Green Wing’ with us before flopping into bed, exhausted after two consecutive days of physical activity.
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