Galivanting thru the Galapagos & the Amazon
Day 13 - On Board the Carina (Isabela: Vicente Roca Point, Crossing the Equator & Albermarle) - Sunday, December 26, 2021
Had left Tagus Cove at 4:30am for the 2 hour cruise to Punta Vicente Roca (still on the Isabela Western Coastline, but up at the head of the seahorse). When we first anchored, it was a little foggy, but it quickly burned off while we were having breakfast & was looking good when we started loading into the pangas at 8am.
Overhead view of the cove of Vicente Roca from Google maps. we were anchored to the right side of the Point. You can just see the indention of the underwater caves in the center of the cove.
Our Pangas went to the northern end of the cove to follow the coastline to the south. That northern end is a famous dive site & there was an old square looking boat with divers out. We didn't get near them, just followed the coast line.
There were Brown Noddys, Nazca Boobys and a Sun Starfish to check out. The tall cliffs were spectacular.
We took the pangas inside a shallow underwater cave. The colors of the rocks inside were other worldly.
It was very shallow as we followed the south edge of the cove around & we could see fish & turtles & sea lions, not to mention penguins swimming along the rocks.
I've included this short video of the Flightless Cormorant & a Sea Turtle while we listen to Luis.
Headed back to the Carina to let us have time for a snorkel!! The weather had turned hot & sunny!
We quickly got into our wetsuits & loaded into the Panga. This time Luis drove & he assigned Jonathan & Jimmy to swim with the girls. George & I were first out of the boat & they left us on our own.
Again, it was a little murky, but still had good visability.
George & I found a penguin on the shore & stayed with it until it dove in & swam past us! Yea! I have seen a penguin under water!!!!
The water was a little warmer today & we saw tons of fish, sea turtles everywhere & puffer fish all around us. We stayed out about an hour. Definitely one of the highlights is the snorkeling. Amazed that only 4 of us were interested. Sure glad they let us do it anyway!
As soon as we back on board, the Captain got us moving. About a half hour later, he sounded the alarm & made announcements inviting us all up to the bridge. We were crossing the Equator & he wanted us to celebrate!!! We were standing in the bridge to get a picture of the GPS screen to get a picture of the 0.00. I missed it on the big screen, but George got it on the little one.
We had a proper Equator Crossing party. Joffre served Mojitos and Jonathan was King Neptune while Francisco was a Pirate. We danced & drank & played in the sun! Great fun!
After our second round of Mojitos, the Captain invited us back inside the bridge to steer the boat. Woo Hoo! That was great fun!!!!
We were hoping to see whales or dolphins, but that was not to be. We did see huge fins of sunfish swimming all around us! That was very exciting!
After lunch & a break while we had continued cruising, we were invited to tour the galley & the engine room. It was much smaller than I expected & clean, but definitely aged! Chef Jimmy was obviously very pleased with it though. Amazed at all the types of food he has managed to serve us out of here! As we finished up the tour, Jonathan was there waiting for us - ready for our afternoon excursion!!
We all piled into one panga for our short trip to visit Albemarle Point. Several interesting things about this particular trip - first, Luis had never stopped there before & the Captain actually went with us to lead the way. The other thing is that when you read about this spot, it mentions that stops are not allowed, it is a panga tour only! Hummmmm???
It took a while to find a place to land the panga, but it was not a problem getting out & onto dry land. There was no prescribed walk, we just headed out willy nilly. This is the historical site of a World War II radar station established by the US Army. There were probably 200 - 400 folks assigned here, even with families! They were here to protect the Panama Canal!! What a desolate place to be stationed during the war!!!! They would have had vehicles, roads, street lights, their own grocery store, etc. When they left, they left all the demetrius of a small base. It's pretty trashy looking. I would have thought the US would come clean it up!!! But the mess didn't keep the adorable Fur Sea Lion from raising here! Never saw Mama, but this baby was very interested in us!! Luis said it was only a day or 2 old.
We wandered all over the site. According to my ebird checklist data, we were there about 2 hours & went 1.6 miles. Capt Fernando was very talkative, I wondered if he had known someone that was stationed here. Sometimes I understood him, sometimes I didn't! Both he & Luis continued talking about the US bases here in Ecuador. Apparently there had been 5 during WWII - the main one was Baltra & it had nearly 5000 people at the peak. There were 4 smaller outposts in the corners of the archipelago. The bases were closed about 5 years ago when the president at that time cut ties with the US to protect his relationship to the Columbian cartel. The current president is trying to reestablish the US relationship to help protect his borders from the drug situation. Most of the Ecuadorians are apparently pro US. That's good to know!
We continued on back to the beach. Saw a Whimbrel hunting on the Lava beach.
Luis called the panga back to get us. The Captain & Jonathan stayed behind. Presumably to look for a better landing spot for next time.
We headed back to the Carina for a nice relaxing night. It had been a full day & we would be traveling all night. We had our standard meeting about 6:30pm & discussed the addition of the Fur Seal to our viewing list! And discussed the game plan for tomorrow - our last full day in the Galapagos!!! Man, time has flown by!!! We had a lovely meal - choice of Lima Bean or Fish soup (guess which I had???), followed by chicken spaghetti with red sauce, shrimp, fried egg plant, julienned cabbage, & a mixed salad. Dessert was a delicious banana pudding!!!!! We are definitely eating way too good. Chatted with Luis for a bit after dinner, then an early night of Man in the High Castle before bed. The Captain got us back under way about 9:30pm. Gonna be a long navigation tonight to get on around the top of Isabela & over to Santiago. Good night for now!
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