A Solo Pregnant Seahorse!

An early day today.  And I woke before the alarm.  Still not confident about making it to things on time since my watch and phone are still pinging to Quito, which is an hour off, so periodically, I have to google what time is it in Puerto Villamil, the town on Isabella Island.

But I made it to the tour office a little bit early.  While waiting for everybody going on the Los Tunelos tour and our ride to the port, I sat and talked with our guide for a while, Sebastian.  He was very interesting.  I forewarned him that as I've gotten older and some health issues, I sometimes have difficulty fighting currents, which is really bad given that I get so excited with the underwater views that I forget to follow the group I'm with so I might get lost a few times.  He was good with that.  He promised to keep an eye on me, and he was true to his word throughout.

When we got to the pier and boarded the boat, there was a guy from Karlsruhe, Germany, two girls from Brisbane, Australia, and a group from Notre Dame on a school-sponsored fall break trip.  Sebastian was great and tried to ensure we were not mixed in with other groups that were out, including the other boat of Notre Dame kids.

My write-up said it would be 2 snorkle sites and one walk.  That's not what we got.  We got one snorkle site, one walk, and one drive-by.  But, I'm not complaining, especially considering that we were in the water for a really long time on our one snorkle!  If we're in the same place, I much prefer one long snorkle over losing time by getting a snack between sessions!  We got out of the boat and immediately saw a giant marble ray laying on the bottom.  I couldn't understand why I was having trouble with focus until I noticed it was on manual focus!  I didn't notice it until I left the ray.  I'm glad my shots came out.

I got the focus switched over to auto just in time to run into a huge sea turtle!!  So many sea turtles in this snorkel!  And so many parrotfish and others.  Only one king angel, which was odd.  I think it was wrasse and damsels mostly.  And turtles!  

Based on his markings and the scalloped carapace, I initially thought this might be a hawksbill, but I never got a good look at his face to see if he had the beak.  Hawksbills are rare in the Galapagos and this guy was really large for a hawksbill, so I questioned it.  I reached out to the Monterey Aquarium, and they assured me it is a green sea turtle.  The scutes on a hawksbill would be overlapping toward the back, looking more serrated than scalloped, and these do not overlap.  The guy at the aquarium made me feel better by pointing out that he is, indeed colored more like a hawksbill than a green, and that he had to look very closely to differentiate.

Rainbow wrasse

Gree sea turtle

Eyestripe surgeonfish

Large school of rainbow wrasse (I love these guys!)

Could be the same green sea turtle based on the orange-ish markings on the carapace.  Similar markings and scalloped shell, but not beaked, so no question that this isn't a hawksbill.  This one was in a different location, though, so maybe the same, maybe different.

Yellowtail damselfish

Blue-barred parrotfish - front view.  Love those teeth and the lipstick!

School of blue-and-gold snapper

Yellow-taled damselfish

Triplefin (?) blenny

Green sea turtle

Green sea turtle.  You can see the algae that grows on the shell.

Sergeant major fish  (They were under the above turtle.)

Rainbow wrasse (kinda shorter and fatter than most!)

We also saw a shark cave!  There wasn't enough light in there to get pictures, but there were more sharks than I could see and count.  Some said they saw at least 8 or 9 in there!

Then we went to the seahorse spot and found one pregnant male Giant Pacific Seahorse.  The water was pretty churned up by the time I got there, so I had trouble seeing it.  I have difficulty using the zoom in the underwater housing, so I couldn't zoom in on it.  I'm hoping the smaller housing will help with that, but I don't have it now.  I finally saw it when Sebastian dove down and pointed for me.  He offered to take my gopro down with him, but the video that came out didn't have it.  He took a really good shot with his GoPro, though, so I'll post his picture here so you can see what I saw, only from a better perspective.

Pregnant male giant Pacific seahorse (not my picture)

We got back on the boat, and he said that was the only snorkel.  So everybody took off their wetsuits.  I didn't get a wetsuit today.  I didn't want to carry it, and the water was warm to me.  The last time I wore a wetsuit, I got a little overheated, and I didn't want to do that again.  People were shivering and teeth chattering, so apparently the water was cold for most people.  On the boat, they gave us hot tea and a choice of ham and cheese or tuna sandwiches.  I also had some peach juice.  And since we weren't going back in the water, I took the camera out of her condom and wrapped a plastic bag around her to catch any sea spray.  

On the way out, we stopped by some blue-footed boobies on rocks.  Then we got to the other side of Los Tunelos.  Los Tunelos is a place where there was a small volcano and the lava tunnels collapsed.  It makes for a very unique landscape.  Early in the hike, I took an easy fall, basically just sitting down while trying to make a large step.  Some of the kids from Notre Dame got me up before Sebastian could get to me, but he kept me by him from then on, calling me his Lovely Queen.  We saw some nesting blue-footed boobies.  We think there was a chick under the male because of an opened egg.  There were a few more.  But my battery ran out after just a few pix, and I didn't bring any extras on this hike.  I thought I knew better, but apparently not.  So I just enjoyed the rest of the walk.  I think I got enough shots to give an idea of the landscape.  

This is the male.  Females are larger, and males have yellower eyes with smaller pupils.  Sebastian believes he was sitting on a new chick, keeping it warm, because of the egg remnants still beside the nest.

This is the female that is mated with the above male.  These birds mate for life, and the blue feet tell the health and age of the birds.  They get the blue color from the carotenoids in the sardines and anchovies they eat.  The bluer the feet, the more they are able to find and eat the proper food.  Therefore, they are also more likely to attract a mate.

These guys are not Galapagos sea lions.  They are Galapagos fur seals, which are not seals at all.  There are just tiny differences between the Galapagos fur seal and the Galapagos sea lion.  The easiest way to tell is that the fur seals prefer rocky, shaded places.

Scratching an itch!

Los Tunelos, a maze of natural bridges and collapsed lava tunnels

These blooms grow on the cacti that are all over these lava rocks.  This one was taken from the large group of cacti in the picture above.

At one point, the othe boat with kids from Notre Dame came to Los Tunelos, and they took some large group shots while Sebastian and Luis and I talked about the mainland and the cartel issues.  Luis said he understands that containers with drugs are going to Spain, not the US.  They were glad to hear Puerto Lopez seems to be thriving, but we all hate what has happened to the major port cities of Manta and Guyaquil.

When we got back in the boat, we got a cookie and apple.  I ate the apple on the boat and brought the cookie home.  

On our way to our next stop, we came across a couple of manta rays mating.  I really didn't see them very well.  The captain tried to maneuver the boat around so everybody got a good look, but it was mostly just some large fins slapping the water.  I did my best for pix, but these videos were the best I could do.

After watching the water porn, we headed to a rock, which is an old small volcano, dead, where some Nazca boobies nest.  Beautiful rock and beautiful birds.  Again, with the moving boat, my bird pictures didn't come out very good.  I'm going to a nesting area later, so there will be better pictures from there.  Here is a picture of the whole rock with its beautiful waterfall that is only active when waves crash onto the area where the birds don't hang out!  If you look closely, you can see the birds on the top of the rock.

After circling the rock several times, we headed back to Isabela, where the welcoming crew greeted us.

When we got there, Sebastian gave his go pro to the girl in the office who downloaded them into my phone (and others), and I walked back to my hostel, dumped my pictures onto the computer, took a shower, and fell promptly to sleep.

Penguinos! And So Many Sharks!

I went to sleep early last night and woke up late today.  It felt so good!  And I still had plenty of time to get ready for my excursion today.  Tintoreras is a shorter excursion than I've been used to.  I took my time getting ready.  Went to the kitchen to fill my bottle and drank my electrolytes while still in my room, filling my bottle again before leaving.  I walked down to the tour office and still had time to try on a wetsuit.  They're convinced it's cold here!  After getting my wetsuit fit, a couple from Ireland came in, and they picked up the suits they used yesterday.  They said the Los Tuneles tour was amazing.  I'm doing it tomorrow.  They did it yesterday.  

Our ride to the pier came, but we were still waiting for a group that was coming in from Santa Cruz, so the Irish couple and I went down to Concha la Perla, which is a little protected cove where people snorkle just off the beach.  Not likely to see things I haven't already seen, but the water looked really clear.  With my issues, I'm a little hesitant to snorkel alone, even with steps for getting in and out.  This is the only down side of solo travel.

When we got on the boat, which was packed (but still with plenty of space), we drove slowly by places, so I just moved my seat from the inside to the back edge where I could get good shots of the blue-footed boobies on some rocks close to our island.  

Juvenile frigate bird.  (It has a white head.  As an adult, the head will turn black.)

Then we docked and took a walk through a lava field.  This island is the lava and collapse of a former volcano.  Many of the islands of the archipelago are formed from volcanos.  Some are still active.  We were met by the usual sea lion sleeping on a bench.  

As we walked, we saw multiple marine iguanas.  Apparently, the babies can't swim yet, so they have to eat what's on the beach.  Also, the reason some of them have white heads (or other parts of their bodies) is because they have a gland on their nose that spits out salt and when they're resting together.  They get salt spit on them.  The white is the dried salt.    

From the edges, you could look over and see the white-tipped reef sharks, the guys we plan to snorkel over when we get in the water.

There was a turtle just chilling on the surface on the other side of the little channel.

Conservationists have placed rat traps in PVC pipe and placed them around this island in an effort to get rid of the invasive predators that threaten the iguanas and other little critters on the island.

People often call this part of the island a moon scape because it looks lunar.  The white on the lava tips is not penguin or booby crap.  It's lichen in multiple colors, but the white is the most prevalent.  

We made it to the end of the path in a beautiful little cove.

Three Eurasian whimbrels were spotted on the beach on their immigration path.

After a nice hike, we loaded back into the boat and went to the snorkeling spot.  The guide said we would just be swimming over the sharks and that I likely wouldn't see anything that I hadn't already gotten good shots of.  The penguins are mostly on the other side of the island nesting and hatching babies, so they aren't likely to be seen.  I was bummed, but decided to leave the camera on the boat and asked them to put my backpack somewhere it wouldn't get wet.  I just snapped the gopro (all lower case because it's actually a knock off) on my chest, put on my snorkel gear, and went overboard.  Since many others weren't using wetsuits, I opted out, too.  I'm glad I did.  I got hot on the other tour that I wore one, and I was quite comfortable on this one.  

There were a few people who had no business in there, especially this dude that dog paddled and kept kicking me in the face.  I think he grabbed my hair once.  I know he grabbed my arm a few times.  I tried to get away from him and finally did – right into a great big green sea turtle!  Surprised the crap out of me!  The water wasn't very clear here, but it didn't have to be to see this guy!  I had to turn and paddle away to keep from running into that great big baby!  I was able to get turned back around and point the gopro at him!  The film from the snorkel is usually in clips of 30 minutes each, but I've trimmed down the parts that are most interesting.

There really wasn't much to see in this area.  The water was pretty churned up and there were lots of people in the water at once.  But there was a blue-barred parrotfish.

And I especially love it when I'm watching the video from the gopro and see that my chest saw something my eyes did not.  I don't remember seeing a chocolate chip starfish on this snorkel!

After we all got settled in, we headed to the tunnel where we swam over the white tipped reef sharks.  It was pretty cool.  The tunnel is very narrow, so you have to go single file in a line, and I let the others get pretty far ahead of me once I figured out they were churning up the water by touching the sides.  In their defense, it was hard to avoid the sides sometimes.  I was expecting more sharks, like what we saw by the place where we walked, but it was pretty cool.  Besides, being in the back of the pack, if any of them were hungry, they'd probably take the ones in front!  But I saw some small fish (food for these sharks) swimming around them, so definitely a good sign.  They were mostly in singles or in pairs, but there was one group that was in a pile.

When we got to the other side, our boat was waiting for us, and we loaded up.  As we were drying off, penguins were spotted!!  One was out swimming and fishing and another one joined after a while.  The guides started calling to him.  I had been thinking I would have to get with Alethea to see about getting someone to drive me over to the other side of the island to see them, which may have caused me to miss out on the sea horses tomorrow.  But I didn't have to do that!!  It was a shame that we were out of the water, but it was good that I didn't put the waterproof condom on the good camera because I just ran over to the boat driver and grabbed my bag, getting the good camera out, really kinda being an ass probably by just deciding I was going to get it out right there regardless of whose stuff I was on.  But hey, I was really after this penguin!!  I did apologize and step back after getting a couple of shots.

Day made!  So, back to the dive shop we went to drop off my wetsuit and get reminded that tomorrow is at 7:30, pretty much the earliest except the ferry.  I went back to my hostel and got a shower, checked my pictures and started the ones from the excursion uploading.  Then I headed to lunch.  I still hadn't had salchipapas since being back in Ecuador, and I saw a restaurant that had sign for them.  So, that's where I had my late lunch.

While searching for diet coke, I ran into the couple from Boston that was on the tortoise farm with me back on Santa Cruz!  We had a good, quick catch-up and chatted for a while.  When I left them, still on the hunt for Diet Coke, I ran into a couple of the guys from the film crew that were on the ferry.  Kind of a small group of people on this island!

The only place besides the bars (which weren't open yet) that were likely to have one was closed.  So, after taking a picture of the cool church in town, I just headed back to the hostel to drink water.  

I've made it a pretty good habit to walk by the flamingo lake walking the two blocks between the center of town and my hostel.  There were some right up by the fence, so I took pictures from between the slats, getting a lower point of view than on the boardwalk.

Spent some time at the tables in the Bar de Beto watching kids and animals before heading to my room where I had time to watch another movie before heading to bed, dreaming about seeing seahorses tomorrow morning!

 

Santa Cruz to Isabela

I got up and out early.  In fact, so early the guy selling water and banana bread (and other stuff too, in his panaderia) wasn't open by the time I went to the malecon.  But the guy with the little kiosk on the malecon was open and he sold me a bottle of water and a balogna sandwich.  I forgot I'm not a huge fan of mortedelo and prefer mortedelo extra, but it was edible and a decent breakfast with the big sandwich bread it was on.  I managed to get signed in on the Sigiloza (the name of my ferry) and boarded via water taxi.  I was in the first group to board the Sigiloza.  Me and the girl sitting by me in the back row by the windows thought we had it made – the whole back row to ourselves.  But not to be.  More people came in.  The boat was full with a couple of people taking turns standing, and all seats on top full.  No way I could have made it on the top – through a little window and climb the ladder from a tiny little ledge.  Just getting to the ladder would have been way outside my comfort zone with my balance problems!

There were some solo folks like me on the boat and a few locals and couples, but most of them were a group of seniors from Great Britain or a film crew from Germany who were filming a documentary on what it is like to live in the Galapagos Islands.  They were a pretty cool group.  So were the Brits. 

One of the lighthouses on Santa Cruz.  The one at the entrance of Isabela looked the same.

When we got on the water taxi heading into Isabela, there was a girl from New Zealand and her boyfriend.  (She's on the far right.)  She was wearing sea sickness glasses.  Well, I guess motion sickness glasses.  She says she even drives in them if she's going a long distance.  Says they work great.  They looked adorable.  The water in them apparently brings the horizon right up to you when things are moving, and there are circles on all sides.

I got to Isabela and paid my $10 entry fee, then took out my camera and got some shots of the welcoming crew of sea lions, the sleepy baby on the path, the iguana on the path, and a pelican on the bay beside.  

When I got to the parking lot, I grabbed a taxi for a buck and headed to my hostel.  I was hoping to just drop my bags, but I was able to check right in.  Turns out, check out and check in are really early on this island!  Lots of rules here in the hostel, but they're understandable and meant to take care of particular problems.  No using the towels to wash things - just dry your body.  Too many towels get stained by wiping shoes, washing makeup, etc.  I always bring a face cloth because many hostels and even some hotels don't provide them outside the US, so no concerns there.   No suitcases on the bed.  This prevents the spread of bed bugs, which they don't have and don't plan to!  Wipe your feet on entry.  No eating in the room.  Crumbs attract ants and other bugs.  Conserve water and electricity.  Those are self explanatory.  I hope that was all.  Without thinking, I immediately broke one.  I put my backpack on my bed just out of habit.  When I realized what I had done, I pulled it off quickly.  I don't think I'm carrying bed bugs, but sometimes you don't know until it's too late.

I walked around town and found the meeting place for my tours from this island and confirmed the times and that they are both dry landings.  Alethea had already told me that, but I double checked.  The town is really cute.  Nothing paved.  Sidewalks are raised off the street, so lots of ups and downs if you walk on the sidewalks.  (I tended to walk in the street because of that.)  In most parts of town, the sidewalks are left bare with tables and businesses back away from the street.

This is the island's letters in front of the town square, facing a group of restaurants behind me.

Lots of little art pieces like this scattered around

Bicycles are a very popular means of transportation.  You can see how far back from the street the restaurant seating starts by looking at the left.

On the way back to my hostel, I took the direction past the flamingo lake.  There weren't so many birds in it this afternoon.  There's probably more at a secluded cove in a different part of the island, but I didn't want to walk that far.  This is a kind of big island.  The biggest one in the archipelago.  

There is a fence around the lake to protect it from any larger predators.  Dogs are supposed to be leashed and kept inside, since they are an invasive species here, but sometimes they do get out.  Hence the fence around the lake.  It also keeps kids from chasing any of the animals in the lake, etc.  There is a small boardwalk so you can enjoy the birds without disturbing them.  They are much brighter than other flamingos I've seen except those in zoos that are specifically fed for color.  Flamingos get their pink color from the beta-carotene in brine shrimp and some algaes.  They are brighter or lighter based on the amount of beta carotene they ingest.

Most of my duck pictures are headless because almost every time my shutter clicked, the ducks put their heads down to feed!  This is a white-cheeked pintail duck.  There were about as many ducks as flamingos in the lake.

This little statuary grouping sits in the middle of the intersection by the lagoon.  You can see the fence behind it.  When my taxi came through, there was a guy chipping the blue paint on the tops of the mosaic parts on most of the post.

After my walk, I went back to my room and took a nap.  With the window being one-way glass (I can see out, but you have to get right up against it to see in), the hammock was a great place for that nap.

I woke for a late lunch time and got a huge meal with a lentle soup, rice, pork chop, fries, salad, and desert.  I was stuffed and I later went to the Bar de Beto, which is just around the corner on the beach and is considered part of my hostel.  I could have rung for Beto to hang me a hammock, but I didn't want to bother him or his wife, Edith just for that, so I just sat at the table and watched the birds and kids playing on the beach.  After falling asleep at the table, I decided to take a walk.  It is a lovely beach!  

When I was coming back, a huge iguana was just walking into the bar.  I said, “Hola”, and he stopped long enough for me to catch up and take some shots.  Their tails are so heavy, they make drag paths in the sand.

I'm not much of a nightlife person these days, so as the bar opened, I bought a soda pop and went back to my room.  The internet has been good in the room and almost all of the pictures I had taken on Santa Cruz had uploaded to the cloud during the day while I was out.  So, I watched a movie had had on my computer and went to bed early.  

The hostel is great.  It is Hostel Galapagos by Bar de Beto.  Nice hot water, large room, shared kitchen with a water dispenser for refilling your water bottle.  Unlike on Santa Cruz, they discourage single use plastics, and the hostels and tour offices give free water bottle refills for their customers.  There's also a rooftop terrace, but I never checked it out because I didn't want to walk up all those stairs for another view of the flamingo lake.  

Tomorrow includes a search for the Galapagos penguin!