Another night of hardly any sleep. Again the ships motor started in the middle of the night. Holy crap.... It is so loud that you honestly think that the boat is hitting an ice burg!!! Well at least we have had our fire drill and we know what to do. Another thing I know, is that there is enough room on the life rafts for everyone on the boat..... So no titanic issues with the Galápagos Legend!!!
It's reassuring to know that it's not only my cabin that shakes and rattles all night whilst the boat is in transit. The most common talking point at breakfast amongst everyone seems to be how noisy their cabin is overnight, and how little sleep they are getting. Another bonus last night was the fact that the boat was rocking from side to side so much that I was rolling around in my bed.
At around 6am the boat anchored off Floreana island, the noise dulling and just in time for me to get up for the day.
After breakfast, it was time for us to prepare ourselves for our first excursion of the morning. This morning we were heading to post office bay, and were told to take our snorkelling gear. We were also told to collect our postcard from the reception desk. I eagerly went and collected my past card, and filled it out. Another postcard completed and ready to send to my nieces back home in Australia.
Checking my snorkelling gear this morning, I noticed that my wetsuit was still wet. I knew that putting the wetsuit on this morning was going to be a cold and wet experience, however not wearing my wetsuit brought a whole new meaning to the word uncomfortable. Whilst the water in the Galápagos was warmer than home.... I can honestly say not by much. At around 19 degrees it was still pretty cold.
So snorkelling gear in one hand, and back pack in the other, it was time to put on my life jacket and hit the zodiac again this morning. By this stage we are all pros at getting on and off these boats. The first time I was quite nervous.... I didn't want to fall in to the water. But you can see that they have organised these types of landings many many times over, and everyone seems to get on and off the boat just fine. Even people with mobility problems are helped into the zodiacs no problems. It is definitely one thing that they do very well!!
It was another wet landing this morning, so no shoes required. The waves were rolling gently into the beach.... So every now and again the zodiac would lurch forward just as you were about to swing off the boat.... and this morning it was my turn... Wet shorts it is!!!
We put all of our snorkelling gear high up on the beach.... none of us wanted to come back to that beach and find that our gear had been swept out to sea!! So we found the highest point on the beach and stacked all of our stuff there. Then we started our walk.
We walked up a sandy path, which was heading inland. We were all looking for a post office that had been built on the island many many years ago. Although when I say post office, again this is probably pushing the truth a little. It's definitely no Australia post that's for sure. Instead, what we found about 50m up that sandy path was a really cute wooden post box. Along side it was a gorgeous hand painted wooden sign letting everyone know that this was in fact the post office. Inside the post box was a plastic bag.... Very similar to a glad zip lock bag (however somehow I don't think the zip lock bag was authentic to the year 1793, when the post office was built). Thank goodness for technology, because inside the zip lock bag people had placed their postcards.
The idea behind it is that everyone stands round in a long line, and we pass the postcards from person to person. If you read the post card address and it is near where you are going or live, then you take the postcard and hand deliver it to person on the card.
We eagerly started going through the post cards, one by one.... We soon realised that a lot of people didn't want their postcard picked up... As in big letters across the address it often read 'do not take or deliver this postcard'. So our eagerness soon wore off... We just started flicking through the cards... looking for any addressed to Australia. There were hardly any there.... I think out of our group of 15, only two people took cards to deliver. One for Australia and one for Canada. We all started to lose interest in looking through the cards.... And very quickly we went from eager to yawn!!!
Although, I will be so interested to find out whether someone does hand deliver my postcard to my nieces..... And when?!?? Maybe I will just need to send my nieces over there to pick it up!!!
After becoming bored with the postcards, the time had come to return to the beach, gear up and head out into the water. I found my snorkelling gear safe and sound, up high on the beach. I put on my cold, wet, wetsuit and ran straight into the ocean.
The swim out to the rocks was only a short 15 - 20m, and was fairly shallow all the way out to the rocks. The fish were amazing, bright and colourful. Swimming around, nibbling on the algae that lined the volcanic rocks.
The waves were rolling in, but were only very gentle. So there was no risk of being smashed into the rocks which is always helpful.
The waves gently pushed me around, whilst I just floated around on the surface of the water, madly looking for sea life below. Out of nowhere, a sea turtle swam up to me and brushed against my arm. Wow. This turtle was swimming so close to me, and then a second one appeared. They both just frolicked around me, taking it in turns to swim along side me and below me. It was magic.... I felt just like the little mermaid!!! The waves were allowing me to float and drift, and the turtles were doing the same thing. I just kept taking photo after photo.
They then decided that they had had enough, and swam away ever so gracefully!!!
Nothing could top that feeling.... I was done. So I decided that I would start to swim back into shore. I mean fish are great, but they really couldn't top my turtle experience.
So here I am, swimming back to shore, and then something brown zoomed past me at a million miles an hour. Was that a shark??? Then it started doing 360 degree donuts around me. It was a sealion. Initially I was a little nervous.... I mean my experience with sealions to date have been a little less than ideal. So you can imagine how surprised I was to find that this sealion just wanted to play!!
A little stunned that he zoomed past me the first time, doing a couple of laps around me, and then zooming off again I popped my head up out of the water to see what just happened, only to see the sealion pop his head up to. He spotted me and then zoomed straight back to me... doing the same thing, he slowed down just near me, took a good look at me, did a few donuts around me and then zoomed off again. So I joined in. I started swimming around in circles as well, and this just made him even more excited to play. We played like this for about 10 mins.
Not one to miss out on a great photo opportunity, I also managed to get some great close up photos of him as well!!!
This sealion went a long way towards helping me conquer my fears of sealions.
I got out of the water and you couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I was grinning from ear to ear. What an experience.
It was soon time for us to board the zodiac and head back to the big boat. I had already decided that I wasn't even going to attempt to have a shower before this afternoons excursion, as it also contained snorkelling!! So it was pretty much time to try and dry off as much as possible, have some lunch and then head back out again in the afternoon.
By day 2, everything was becoming a regular thing on the ship. Our group of 9 sat at the same table for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We also had the same waiter for each of these meals as well. The best way to describe him is ghandi vs cojack. So needless to say, amongst our group he was just referred to as either cojack or ghandi.
His nifty fingers and efficiency with clearing the plates just astonished us. Before we had even finished putting the last mouthful of food in our mouths the plate was gone. Quite often, ghandi even tried to clear the plates with food still on it. Holy crap this guy is a stealth plate cleaning machine. Heaven help you if you were going back up for some thing else and you still required your knife and fork.... As you would come back to the table, go to use your cutlery only to find that they too had been collected and taken off for washing!!!
We had all caught on quite quickly with how nifty he was, so it soon became the done thing to let him collect your plate while you chewed your last mouthful of food, still holding on to your knife and fork.
After lunch today, I decided that a siesta was in order. I was hardly getting any sleep during the night.... And feeling quite tired I thought that it might be the ideal time to catch up on some much needed sleep. The boat was moving location, and our next excursion wasn't until 3pm, so off to the cabin I went.
It's so interesting, as my cabin was just as noisy as always, however I managed to get an hours sleep no problem. I felt so good for having it as well!!!
I jumped up and got all my gear together. Before I knew it, I was back on the zodiac, heading back out to another Galápagos island beach. This time the beach landing place was cormorant point, still on the island of Floreana.
It was yet another wet landing, and once on land, we all put our sandals on to walk across this barren island.
Off we went. The walk was across gravel tracks and they led us to a brackish lake located about 5-10 min walk from the beach landing. Here in the distance we could see some very small pink blobs.... Oh, they are flamingos. There was only a handful of them there..... And they were seriously about 1km away. Even with my massive zoom on my camera, I couldn't get the best photos of them!! Although, at least I could make out that they were actually flamingos, which is a lot better than most other peoples photos!!! Jan was so disappointed, as all she wanted to see was the flamingos on the Galápagos Islands. From what we had read, it sounded like there was going to be millions of them here. So I can understand why Jan was so disappointed.
Jan ended up heading back to the landing beach, whilst the rest of us continued on our walking journey to the other side of the island.
Along the gravel track we continued.... up and down hills. We eventually hit a sandy path, which we followed up over a sand dune. It was only once we had walked over the dune, that we were greeted by the most amazing blue and green water of the ocean. Either side of the white sandy beach was volcanic rock, providing the perfect home to so many of the animals that call Galápagos home!!! We walked down the sandy path towards the beach, and were given very strict instructions not to stray from the path. Looking around on the dunes, I could see all of these large holes. It looked like the beach had been hit by multiple bombs, and they had left their indentation on the land. However, Fatama soon explained to us that this is where the green sea turtles come to lay their eggs. All of those 'bomb sites' were in fact turtle nests.
It's the first time that I have photographed holes in the sand that's for sure!!!
We walked along the beach, keeping an eye out for any wildlife that happened to stumble across our tracks. We weren't allowed to swim in this bay, as it is frequented by a large number of sting rays. Apparently they bury themselves in the sand, and have quite often attacked human feet thinking that they were prey. Yep, I don't need to prove anything.... I'm more than happy just walking along the sand thanks!!!
We soon finished on the beach, and decided to start walking back to the landing beach. Along the gravel path we went.
Once we arrived at the beach, our guide Fatima decided to take us down another path, to see if we could get a closer look at the flamingos.
As we walked to the path, we came across some blue footed boobies. It was interesting to watch them in their natural habitat. Some were off fishing.... We watched as they flew around above the water, honed in on their prey and made themselves so streamlined as the dive straight into the water. Olympic divers would be so proud of these dives I'm sure.
We also saw some boobies doing their mating dance. Essentially, they shuffle from one blue foot to the other. Really cute to watch.
So we continued down this other path, all hoping that Jan would get to see her flamingos. As we arrived at the viewing place, we discovered that the flamingos had in fact moved further away. It just wasn't meant to be.
Fatima's attention was quickly drawn to the time..... a call had gone out on the radio (which is carried by all the guides). It was in Spanish, so none of us knew what was said. However Fatima turned to us and asked who was going to do the deep water snorkelling??? Myself and Fiona put our hands up. The call was for us to high tail it across to the landing beach, as the boat was about to leave.
Both Fi and I were both having second thoughts about the deep water snorkelling.... The program said that it was going to leave the beach at 4.30pm, and head back to the boat at 5.30. However it was now 5pm, so we weren't sure if it was going to be worth the effort of going out there for just half an hour. But after talking to one of the guides, we were reassured that we would have an hour out there to explore. So our decision was made, we were going.
Wet wetsuit on again... I grabbed all of my stuff, and jumped into the zodiac. We travelled about 5 mins out to this large volcanic rock island, called the crown. It was actually a number of different islands in close vicinity to each other. Our guide was Whitman..... a tool from way back I'm guessing. He is always on a power trip.... And I feel genuinely sorry for his group he leads on the island expeditions. We always seem to over take his group, seated on a rock somewhere being bored to death by Whitman's constant droning. They have actually missed out on seeing more, because he thinks it's more important to teach, than let people experience the islands for themselves.
So, we were less then impressed to see that he was our guide on the snorkel. In the zodiac ride across, he stood in the middle of the boat in between all of us, with his sunglasses on (did I forget to mention that it looked more like rain than sun), pointing in the direction of the island. I'm not sure if he thought he was an explorer, setting sail for an undiscovered island, or if he was just being a knob, but I'm sure the zodiac driver didn't need directions on how to get there.... The island kind of stood out like dog balls. Even I could have navigated to that island!!!
So we arrive at the drop point..... and captain knob, I mean Whitman, gives us our safety instructions. He warned us that there was a strong current.... Holy crap, strong current is an understatement. This was like a category 4 white water rafting torrent cutting it's way between two of the islands. I was nervous.
The deep water snorkelling was only for those who were experienced snorkelers or really strong swimmers. Ok, so I've been snorkelling more than a dozen times, but I'm definitely not 'experienced' by any stretch of the imagination, however I am a fairly strong swimmer.... but looking at this I'm not sure if I'm that strong a swimmer. I took one look at Fi, and even she said that the current looked strong. I nodded, and just said to her... Please stick with me!!! She agreed.
I watched people somersault backwards off the side of the zodiac into the water... Pretty ballsy considering that you could see from the edge of the zodiac that it was fairly shallow. Fi and I (both nurses) took one look into the water and decided to do the sensible thing... Slide in feet first!! Although, in the grand scheme of things, the most sensible thing would have been for us to stay in the boat.... However, how does the saying go..... no guts no glory?? We had come all this way, there's no way I'm pulling out now.... Next thing my body hit the freezing water, and as I surfaced I took my first breath through the snorkel. I swam over to the bigger of the islands, and immediately saw some of the most spectacular fish. The current was strong, however I found that I was able I easily swim against it... all of a sudden my fears of being carried out to sea on the current were non existent, as I became totally absorbed in the underwater world I was swimming above. The water clarity was so remarkable, it seemed like I could see for metres below. Fi and I snorkelled our way along the rock surface of the crown, pointing out different fish to each other. After about 5 mins I popped my head up out of the water to see where I was located. I turned to see someone jumping out of the water and into the zodiac. Who the hell is that... Have they had trouble... I looked a little closer.... It was captain knob!! What a sook. I can't believe that he was meant to be guiding us on this snorkel, and he is too much of a woose to stay in the water for longer than 5 mins. Oh well, we continued on our snorkel, discovering amazing fish after amazing fish. We swam along the rocks of the island, occasionally swimming back to rediscover nooks and crannies that we found.
We came across the most amazing cave, the light was shining from the other side, providing the perfect backdrop for the fish silhouettes. There were hundreds of fish swimming around in there. I would have loved to have made my way through that cave.... and if I had a tank of oxygen on my back I would have. But there was no way I was going to swim into that cave, not knowing if there was an airpocket on the other side. I think a few of us would have done it, however with captain k*** safely back in the zodiac, probably sipping his hot cocoa and having his mummy rub some Vicks vapourub on his back, we couldn't ask anyone if it was safe to do so!!
We soon swam our way to the other side of the island. The waves were starting to crash into the rocks, creating a lot if bubbles and reducing the visibility to pretty much nothing. So it was time to swim across the current back to the zodiac. I increased my kick rate, just to make sure I didn't get swept away.... however no need to worry, as I made it back to the boat quite easily. As I waited for one guy to climb up the ladder onto the zodiac, I started to get my flippers off and chucked them in the zodiac.
Before I knew it, everyone was back in the zodiac and we were on our way back to the ship. Everyone was full of stories about what they had seen and what they had loved.
Back on the boat... It was time for a well deserved hot shower. It was the best feeling.... warming back up again after being in the cold water, and then having the additional evaporative cooling of the wind on the zodiac.
All warm and clean, I headed up to the top bar to find the gang enjoying their hard earned drinks. So what else is a girl to do, than join them!!!
We shared a couple of drinks together, and soon the call went out... It was time for dinner. Tonight, we didn't have far to travel. No, we were having a BBQ up on the top deck. Our table of 9, had been placed down one side of the deck... away from the other tables. Hmmmm, are we the forgotten second cousins??? I think it had more to do with the fact that we were the biggest group there and probably the loudest table there. But it was such a fantastic location for us.... As it was as if we had our own private dinner function on the boat.
The BBQ was amazing, grilled prawns, succulent chicken breast, and pork chops.... all cooked amazingly. The salad selection was also pretty good!!
We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner together, and also enjoyed our new waiter for the night. Ghandi obviously had another table that evening, and we had the most delightful waiter, who carried our food back to the table for us. Although, Ken and I initially thought that he was just taking our food off us.... almost ready to put up a fight, we then clued on and gratefully handed our plates across to him.
After dinner, there was a performance planned in the main bar (one deck down). So a majority of us made our way down there to watch. The play was acted out by fellow passengers on the boat.... and was actually quite funny!! Although, if I was sober I don't know if it would have been as funny as what I found it.
Once the play had finished.... they pumped up the music volume, and we all got up and had a bit of a boogie. I somehow managed to con the bar guys into playing Men at Works 'Down Under' which Ken and I went off to!! Although, there were quite a few of us that seemed to enjoy that selection... even some non-Aussies!!
After a few more beers, there were only 3 of us standing.... Jan, Ken and myself. So it was time to call it a night!!!
Let's see if. I can get a half decent nights sleep tonight..... Please!!!!