On Board the Carina on Isabela, Galapagos, Day 9 - Wednesday, 22 December 2021

 Galivanting thru the Galapagos & the Amazon

Day 9 - On Board the Carina (Isabela: Puerto Villamil - Las Tintoreras & The Wet Lands) - Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Here is the route plan for our week in Galapagos.  We were very lucky that this is our route.  When we were here before, we stayed on the east side of the archipelago, so this itinerary will mean that by the end of this week, we'll have seen 10 of the 15 islands visited by tourists!  Strangely enough, OAT didn't even list this itinerary as a possibility.  We are thrilled that it has worked out this way.

I'll start each day in the Galapagos with the plan that Luis provided us at the previous evening's meeting.  That will frame my daily report!

Morning breakfast.  

Several boats were anchored in this harbor with us.  A couple of the larger ones are from the company that the other group is traveling with in April.  We had a rather rough night.  We were crossing west from Santa Cruz.  We started cruising about 11pm and cruised all night.  I got up about 5:55am & we put down anchor in this harbor about 6:15am while I was in the shower.  I was very pleased that I could finish up my shower at anchor.  I had had to sit down to shave my legs - it was tough enough to just stand.  Didn't keep us from sleeping, but we were well aware that we were rocking & rolling.  Both of us had trouble navigating to the bathroom during the night!!!  No one sick though!  Yea!!!

We loaded into the Pangas & took a short trip over to a dry landing dock for a short walk on Las Tintoreras.  Luis told us that they had only recently opened it up for us to walk on this islet - previously the National Park just allowed to tourist to Panga around it.

I put my foot in this picture to give you an idea of the size of some of them.  This was just a little guy.

The marked path was over a very rough lava field. The Marine Iguanas were everywhere & ranged from less than a foot long to nearly 3'. Luis said they were just starting to get colors for the mating season. They were not concerned about us all. You had to be careful to step over them when they were lying directly in the path. We could have easily touched them, but that's forbidden of course. Not that they appear very cuddly anyway! Ha! There were sea lions playing in the water around us too. And numerous shore birds. We could see across the inlet to where lots of other boats were anchored. Groups are limited in numbers & the time they are allowed onto each of the islands. We didn't see any other people or pangas around at all.

Although they were difficult to see, there were Finches hopping around on the lava also. We even saw several of them servicing the iguanas by picking bits of dead skin off them. Luis did help me identify a flock of Galapagos Shearwaters flying past, several Brown Noddy's flying overhead, a Ruddy Turnstone hunting on the Lava seashore & the ever present Magnificent Frigatebirds constantly present.  A reminder that most of the bird pictures ARE NOT MY PICTURES.  I have taken them from ebird.com  I always had my binoculars with me & saw the birds, but I'm just using my cell phone for pictures & it stinks!

As we finished up the loop, we were facing this enclosed tide pool.  There were 2 penguins & several sea turtles swimming in it.  Our first penguins!!!!  I tried & tried, but could never get any decent pictures of them.  The water was sooooo clear & gorgeous.  

The most magical sight on this little islet was the long narrow tidal pool that followed the path back to the dock.  There were lots of Galapagos shark all lined up in it.  Luis said sometimes they are there & sometimes not, so we were lucky to see them.  Apparently the water is warm because it is so shallow & they love to rest there.  There were several sea turtles in there with them.  

We could look over the promontory of rock into the round pool & could still watch the penguins playing in there too.  We didn't want to leave!  

Just as we started to get back in the panga, we saw our first Lava Lizard.  Boy is he camouflaged!  

Even the short ride back to the boat gave us more surprises - The cactus looks soooo much like Saguaro Cactus & there were some very large examples of it growing in the lave fields.  And we got to see several penguins playing on the rocks.  Never saw one on the last trip, but this time they are everywhere!  Different group of islands, I suppose.  

Back on the boat for lunch (lasagne - both with meat & vegetarian).  Yummy.  The water from on board the ship reminds me of the Caribbean.  It is so very clear & calm today.

We met at the back of the Carina at 2pm for our afternoon excursion.  We're headed to the mainland of Isabela to go to the Wetlands. 

On the way over in the Pangas, we saw Spotted Eagle Rays in the clear water around us. 

I took a ton of pictures of the sea lions lounging on the boats in the harbor.  They were just too cute.  I'm sure the boat owners don't think so!!

More Spotted Eagle Rays

A close up of the Sally Lightfoot Crab.  They are just so bright & beautiful.

We took a short ride in the local open air transportation to the Wetlands City sponsored Reserve.  Although the city appeared rather poor like a lot of island towns, it was clean & neat with a mix of new architecture & places that looked homemade from local scraps!  The entrance to the Wetlands area was right beside these newer looking apartment/townhouse places that were for sale.  Would like to have seen the inside of them.  They would have a beautiful view!

Black Necked Stilt

American Flamingo

Luis took off at a fast pace, we were nearly jogging to keep up with him.  I managed to get a couple of shorebird pictures and although Luis was very disappointed that the Flamingo pond was nearly empty, we did spot a few American Flamingos hiding near the back.  

Common Gallinule

Luis stopped every few hundred feet to give us some information.  Mind's a blur - he was identifying every plant & tree & giving us info on uses, etc.  Brilliant!

Yellow Warbler

Luis called the Finches again.  That is just so so cool!  Finally got my own picture of a Yellow Warbler!

He pointed out the Passion Fruit Vine & the Cotton Tree.  It was a completely educational walk.  If only we could remember a 10th of the information we've heard!

The Boardwalk ends in another Giant Tortoise breeding/research facility.  These guys only place tortoises on the island of Isabela.  They have the facility divided up among ages.  It used to be a totally open facility & you could get close to the tortoises, but they have had problems with theft and also just vandalism.  So sad!  They have security to watch the place & even have cameras set up.  It was very clean & interesting.

These is a little museum, but it was not very impressive.  Didn't spend much time there.

Noticed this bucket as we left, they were trying to catch a wasp that is causing damage to local 

We took our local "limosine" back to town & then went to a local grocery store to buy some bar soap for the shower.  Luis had suggested it - only complaint for the Carina - it only had a liquid soap with the dispenser over the sink.  Only shampoo & conditioner in the shower!  Several of us bought soap.  Actually George bought it all - no one else had money - not even Luis!  George loaned everyone money!  

Anyway, we walked all along the front beach area - originally looking for a place with internet for the only other guy in the group - Jim. He wanted to send a message to his granddaughters. But instead, we ended up stopping at a bar, La Chota, on the beach for beer & a local Coconut cocktail specialty. We were the only ones there & the bartender lit a fire & brought chairs. He turned up his music & it turns out that Luis loved to dance Merengue! We had a ball. Danced & chattered & just had a generally great time for about an hour.  He was actually quite a good dancer & leader.  He even recognized that it was merengue.  He knew some other rhythms, but said he didn't know cha cha!  

Enjoyed the sunset while we were waiting for the Panga at the dock.  It was gorgeous!!

We knew something was up when Joffre was there to help us out of the Panga wearing a tux shirt & bowtie!!!!

We had an adorable penguin on our bed!!!  Too Too cute!

All the crew came in to be introduced.   Ferdinand, the captain; Jonathon, the 1^st mate; Jimmy the 2^nd mate; Francisco, the IT man & cabin service; Jonathon, the chef; Walter the asst chef (also a real chef); the 2 engineers – Xavier & Alexander; Joffre, the bartender & food service. Joffre had made a passion fruit Sangria for a toast. Dinner was fabulous – lentil soup with plantain & Spinach soup, breaded shrimp, pork chops, julienne veges, roasted potatoes, salad, rice & cauliflower.  Had a wonderful sponge cake with whip cream & jelly filling.  Everything was yummy.  Had a short meeting after dinner about tomorrow's plan.  I'll get to it in tomorrow's report!

Snapped a picture of the quiet harbor as we headed to our cabin for our regular episode of Man in the High Castle & bed about 10pm.