Days begin between 0530 and 0600 and end anytime from 2000 to 2100. Every day so far we have done more by noon than we usually do on a weekend… kind of like a day at work for Marilyn! (ha ha)
This morning we were up at 0545 to whale watch. We didn’t have any luck but weren’t bothered as we saw a humpback and calf the other day. Then we had the usual incredible breakfast which we couldn’t hardly eat (but did) as we had consumed immense amount of coffee and banana bread while whale watching. At 0900 we boarded pongas to tour the shore line where we saw: sea turtles, Galapagos penguins, nesting boobies (not nestling – though there were a few trying…), sea lions, flightless cormorants, sunfish, Marine iguanas, various petrels, masked boobies, and more. At 1030 we came back to the ship grabbed our snorkel gear and headed back into the water to snorkel with the sea turtles and penguins. Fortunately this time no sea lions charged past looking to play – one did on an outing the other day and the sound Marilyn made out the snorkel tube sounded like that of an elephant! We haven’t seen any elephants! One of the giant sea turtles did swim within inches of us as we floated in the bay and a small shark (Kari??? Where are you??) idled past. We say floated as we are getting much better at that as the week goes on – not a day has gone past without two desserts! We get our just desserts! The only problem this has caused was shower curtain encounter (the old lady and the lost puppy far side cartoon.) Digression. This morning’s activities were followed by lunch with 2 desserts as has been the case for the entire trip, except for the one day when we provided our own lunch. …..back again… there is no time to write – the bazillion photos we have taken will have to provide the “stories” to follow.
Since the wee bit above there was a presentation/lesson about digital photography, we rode the pongas over to an island/volcano to walk on a 200 year old lava flow, see a nesting oystercatcher, two Galapagos hawks (first time!) a bazillion land iguanas, Sally Lightfoot crabs (cool name, hey?), more boobies and we learned how the last eruption of Espinoza boiled the sea causing bazillions of very small sea creatures to cook and for their shells to eventually wind up on the “beach” to become white sand – in a couple hundred more years. Each day is like being in National Geographic 3D programming! The ship is the MS Islander and the company is partnered with National Geographic. In a couple of minutes we will be topside on the ship for a star guide presentation (after the gorgeous sunset) and then there will be dinner at 2000 and a recap of today’s events! Oh yeah, on the way to the lava flow walk we were surrounded by a herd of dolphins! They were the welcoming committee!
PS a clown and his crew sang Happy Birthday to the birthday boy and he had some awesome cake – and then dessert!
Happy Birthday Aiden! October 28th.
Sorry LYNDA your name was misspelled in the last blog!
Hard to believe we are only half done – there are still bazillions of things to see and do!
