Today was a super early day! The schedule was to meet the group at the pier at 5:50 am. Yeah, that's right. Before 6 am on vacation! Fabian met me on the pier with my wetsuit and a walking stick because the terrain on Espanola is apparently very uneven.
Twelve of us boarded the boat - 5 from France (who spoke English and Spanish), 2 from Argentina (who spoke English and Spanish), 2 from Brazil (who spoke English and Spanish), 1 from Germany (who spoke English and Spanish), 1 from the US (who spoke English and Spanish – that was me), and 1 from China (who did not speak Spanish, only English). So, our tour was in English mostly, but there was a lot of conversing in Spanish, French, and Portugese going on, too.
Once that was settled, we got underway and had breakfast – boiled eggs, rolled ham and cheese slices, bread, and fruit (watermelon and pinapple). I had an egg, ham, cheese, fruit, and hot tea. Shortly after breakfast, our first sea sickness happened, so I ran out of the cabin into the fresh air so that I didn't become the second casualty. I went upstairs and rode in the breeze for a significant period of time, not going back downstairs until I got thirsty. I left my water downstairs when I ran out. Everything was back to normal, and the German girl was napping behind the ladder, out of the way, but in the air. I had some more watermelon and hung out watching the water go by. About 3 hours later, we were in Gardner Bay, where we took a snorkel. There were a couple of marble rays, several sea stars (a couple of chocolate chips), lots of tropical fish and some turtles. My journals says I saw a black-tipped reef shark today, too, but I can't find any picture, and I don't remember it. But, if it was in my journal, I'm sure it happened!
Chocolate chip sea star
The camera condom had a tiny leak, so I hadn't put it on right, but it wasn't bad. I didn't even notice it until I got on the boat and was taking of the condom. It actually could have even been just that I didn't dry the outside well enough before breaking the seals and starting manipulating the camera inside. Either way, the camera was fine with only a couple of drops (less than if I had gotten caught out in the rain), but I want to be more careful from now on.
After snorkeling, we came back on the boat and had lunch. My protein was chicken and some had fish. There was also spaghetti noodles, white rice, beans, broccoli, carrots and green beans, and a salad with cucumbers, onions, tomatos, and green olives. I didn't take any green olives! It was really quite good. After lunch, we navigated to Punta Suarez, where we went for a hike. This hike was brutal! The hiking stick Alethea sent me was an absolute necessity on all the rocks and stuff. I could have used two! I usually take pix of the terrain, but it just wasn't happening this time. I even skipped some of the things I would have normally gotten pictures of because I had to breathe.
We saw the iguanas, who are a different color because of the color of the algae they eat. The sea lions accidentally kill some of them because they like to pull them by their tails when they're trying to get out of the water. It's a game for them. We also saw Galapagos mockingbirds, lava lizards, Nazca boobies, albatros, Galapagos hawks, the “blow hole”, and blue-footed boobies, a Galapagos dove. I think that's it.
I love the way the babies roll around in the sand and are just covered! Haven't decided whether it's accidental or on purpose!
When we got back on the boat, I checked my watch to see how my body handled that hike. My heart rate went up into the 180s and I had difficulty breathing. My face was bright read and one of the girls from France asked if I needed some more sunscreen because I had burned to a crisp – can't I feel that? I had to tell her that it wasn't sunburn, probably my blood pressure. She said, “Oh, that's good” before she caught herself and said that maybe it wasn't. After some more water and sits, I finally got it back together and had some more watermelon. After recovery, I was able to enjoy the trip back, but there were some (including crew) who were clearly a bit concerned for me. They made sure I had water and watermelon.
The crew offered cocktails, with or without alcohol. I declined because after all of that, I really didn't want all of that sugar to hit my blood stream.
It was a great day, in spite of my struggles, and I'm hating to see this trip end. Alethea and Fabian met me at the pier and took my wetsuit to dry it overnight so I don't have to pay weight for water in the wetsuit. They have clients going kayaking at 7 tomorrow morning, so she'll bring it by after she gets them off.
It's good that this excursion was on the last day because I really didn't have any energy to do anything the next day. I had considered walking down to the malecon for a little while after breakfast, but it just wasn't going to happen. After checking out, I just hung out in the garden, reading on my phone. Alethea came by with my wetsuit and we talked for a bit until she had to go take care of some more clients. I really enjoyed not just the tour she put together, but meeting her and Fabian was awesome!
I made it to the airport with plenty of time and actually ran into the German girl and her Argentinian parents that were on the last two excursions with me. We talked a bit before our flights. I got to Guyaquil just in time for the rolling blackouts, so there was no hot shower for me that night and my flight out to the States was way too early to try to get a shower before leaving, especially since I need a pony tail for traveling and it's hard to put my hair up when it's wet.
I met up with a friend in Miami, and she kept me company during my layover. We had a very good time, and she hung out with me until time for me to go back through security and catch my flight on out to Seattle, where Chrissy picked me up and brought me home!
That's it for this trip! I'll write more with the next one!
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