Galapagos, Espanola Island

Day 6 Friday October 8

After tidying up my room and having breakfast we were loaded onto the dingies again and headed to Espanola Island. This morning was the best day yet for wildlife. We saw more of the usual, sealions and crabs, but we also saw a new variety of marine iguana. This on has red on it because of the type of seaweed it eats. Where we landed was a shallow protected cove where mother sealions give birth and rear their young. There were lots of young ones around and a big bull swimming and bellowing in the shallows.

We also saw nesting bluefooted boobies, masked boobies, and albatross! (both adults and huge chicks). Absolutely amazing to walk around and get to see these birds up close and they aren’t afraid of us. They stay put and just look us over.

After lunch we headed to a beautiful beach on a different area of Espanola Island. Here we walked up and down the beach and could see a lot of sealions resting on the beach in pods, each with a male and a number of females and young. We also saw a number of turtles swimming around off shore. Then we got ready to go snorkelling again. The plan was to snorkel off the beach with the turtles. Since Mark wasn’t going in, he lent me his underwater camera. Unfortunately, the sand was so stirred up by the surf that the water was murky and picture taking wasn’t an option. You couldn’t see the turtles until you were right on them, and the sealions came in like torpedoes to see you, but there was no time to take photos. Then we were ferried by the zodiacs to snorkel around some rocky outcrops 100 yards off the beach. The water was clearer but there were no turtles and the sealions were up to the same trick. However, it was still amazing to be in the water with turtles and sealions.

After dinner, Sandy, Jannicke, Raelene and I played a couple of card games that Jannicke knew. The best one was five games in one. Each round had a different game. Each time 10 cards are dealt to each player. 1. take as few tricks as possible (one point for each trick you take). 2. Take as few hearts as possible (one trick for each heart you take). 3. Don’t take queens (4 points against for each). 4. first player has to play a seven, then other players in turn can play up or down from the seven, in the same suit, or any other seven that gets played. If you have to pass you get a point, and one point for each card you are left with when someone goes out. 5. Take as many tricks as possible and each one you take takes one point off your score. The player with lowest score wins. Could be fun at the cottage next year!