I woke up before the alarm went off, but I woke up several times last night. I forgot to take my gabapentin, so... But I got up and had breakfast. Just eggs and buttered bread with hot black tea. It hit the spot. I headed out the door and had to turn around and get my snorkel gear and wet suit. As would be expected, I walked the direction that was by the water. On the little beach by the malecon, I saw the afterbirth of the sea lion that we thought would be birthing overnight, so she obviously did.
I met Fabian on his way to the dive shop where the kayaks are. Alethea came soon after. We got everything taken care of and together. My wetsuit, being for people with wider waist than hips, does not stay up when put on only half way. But, I had enough hands to hold it up while walking. I left all the dry stuff at the dive shop, so I only had my wetsuit, my water bottle, my snorkel gear, gopro, and water shoes. After a brief safety briefing and some help getting through the rocky water to the kayak seat, Fabian got me in the kayak and was well aware that I probably wouldn't be much help paddling, but that is why we were in a double kayak to begin with. I had told Alethea that I didn't have much upper body strength after my shoulder surgery.
Off we set. Fabian did the paddling, and he stopped at multiple places for lava heron, blue footed boobies, Sally Lightfoot crabs, pelicans, sea lions (that played around the kayak), and some other things. We got to the bay, and he anchored the kayak and we got out. It was awesome. Several turtles, and it was great seeing the grunts cleaning the shell. Once an angel fish did! Another time, a fish bumped into the turtle's head and scared it! Unfortunately, I didn't get an of that on my gopro, but Fabian got a little bit of the cleaning. As we were getting ready to reboard the kayak, a sea lion beat me to my seat! So cute! When she got out, we got back in the kayak and paddled back. I helped more this time because we were going against the tide. We stopped for the sea lions that played with the kayak before and we saw some iguanas, too.
I didn't take the camera because I needed to do at least a little to help with the paddling, so everything from the kayaking and snorkeling is videos, either mine or Fabian's.
We also saw all kinds of fish, scorpion fish, octopus, played with sea lions, starfish (chocolate chip ones, too!), sea cucumber, pencil urchins, anemone, and we ended on a school of young baracuda.
Sea cucumber
Sea lion
This is what I saw when nothing "exciting" was happening. Love the Galapagos!
Turtle eating
School of surgeonfish with a few stragglers of other species
Galapagos octopus. Watch the fish attack him! This is the first octopus I've seen in the wild!
My best turtle video
The baby baracuda
This is Fabian's video of the chocolate chip sea star. Notice the little urchins in the hole next to it!
Another of Fabian's videos. He said this guy appears to have healed from a shark attack.
The scorpionfish is almost impossible to see. I couldn't find him in my videos, but mine were from the surface. If you look closely, you can see it on the rock at the end of the video. So glad Fabian can swim underwater!
Fabian's video of the sea lion in my seat. You can see me still working my way to the kayak while Fabian talks to the sea lion!
When we got back, we got out of the kayak. My wetsuit fell off once I let go of it on the malecon, so we just pulled it on off over my feet. Fabian and Alethea are going to rinse and dry it overnight and will bring it to me in the morning for Kicker Rock. The water was colder on this snorkel than it had been on the other islands, and I was glad to have the wet suit. I still didn't get cold, but I do have layers with the rash guard under the wetsuit. We had chips, cookies, and juice at the dive office. Alethea showed me where to meet tomorrow for Kicker Rock, suggesting I get there a little early. As she and Fabian went home, I walked along the malecon, taking pictures of birds and grabbing some bites as I went along. I went all the way to the Naval Base while my rash guard dried and then came back.
This pelican was cute. He was floating along on the water, just like a normal pelican. Then, he turned to ward the beach, and suddenly his wings had to be kind of up while walking.
Suddenly, he started high stepping with his wings way out, but not opened, and his neck kind of stretched out! Once he got fully on the beach, he went back to looking like a normal pelican!
A neat crab-carved bench
Lots of nice wood carvings
I loved this statue!
A fountain in a traffic circle close to the Navy base
The statue oasis by the sea lion beach at the other end of the malecon
A lava gull gathering some dry-ish sea lion afterbirth. The birds fight over it.
One of the many species of Darwin finches
Lava heron. I love the little "Alfalfa" hair on the back of his head.
Marine iguana
Adult Sally Lightfoot crab
Juvenile Sally Lightfoot crab
Statue of male and female frigatebird
San Cristobal's letters and the beginnings of the Christmas display
Adult male frigatebird. Adult males are completely black except for a red throat, which is not always visible. I spent the whole trip trying to get a male frigatebird with the red throat, but the only time I saw them, I was on a boat and couldn't get a decent picture.
Juvenile frigatebird. Juveniles have white heads and chest. The head and maybe the chest will be black when it's an adult. Females will keep the white chest.
Sea lions on the beach where we launched and returned with the kayak. Watch how the mom grabs the baby by the scruff of the neck like many other mammals.
After walking the malecon and stopping for snacks and pictures, I headed back to my hostel. Stopped by the little tienda for another piece of fruit, dumped my photos and videos, got a shower, and went to bed. Tomorrow is one of the trips I'm really looking forward to. It's deep water, and some pretty large animals are expected to be there!
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