7-24 Day 6 in the Galapagos

8:00 am

Floreana Island (Santa Maria)

I didn’t sleep well last night after dinner. Halfway through the night I found my ear plugs and was a happy camper.

Breakfast and wake up were at 7:00 am to the sound of the bell ringing. We got up for breakfast then to a quick swim to freshen up of the stern of the boat. No good showers on board. When I went to dive off the boat, we had a sea lion on the deck. I jumped right after the sea lion swam away.

From there we chose our snorkeling gear for after lunch as we got ready to leave for Post Office Bay. My hope is to find some mail for a traveler in Connecticut that I can deliver for them, from there some snorkeling after lunch.

1:30ish pm

This morning we took the dinghy to the shore and went to the “post office”. I picked up a postcard for someone in CT. I left one for my parents and one for Jane and Bentley, from there we hiked to another lava tube. Turns out it was a cave. As we hiked back into the cave there was water. The guide and I went a ways in, but no one else joined us. Pity. We then made our way back down to the beach for a bit of snorkeling. We saw some amazing fish, I believe a Parrot Fish, a Moray Eel hiding in the rocks, a Sea Lion joined us for a minute and swam off. I also saw 5 Sea Tortoises, big ones, and would dive down to see them and swim along side. I again took off with the guide snorkeling and he showed me all kinds of fish. We got back to the boat and had the closest thing we can to a shower, 15 seconds in the fresh water hose on the stern of the boat. There were some cookies and crackers for us while we wait for lunch. On our way to the next port on Floreana. We saw a pod of Humpback Whales, a male, female and baby. It is amazing, these guides see this every day and they are cheering as much as we are. Snapping pictures of the Humpbacks as they breach the surface, baring their white chests in an amazing display of acrobatics, water splashing 15ft in the air, only to leave behind a flat calm spot where they reenter the water. Even though I have seen this before off Cape Cod, this is magical. Right now we are just sitting here watching the Humpback show.

5:57 pm

After a rest on the boat, I did manage to nap a bit, we went out to snorkel at Devil’s Crown. The tide was very strong and we did a lot of drifting with them. We saw a number of great fish, a starfish, another sea tortoise and a manta ray. We even dove under the rocks and into an opening at the crown. From there we returned to the boat for a bit before heading back to the Floreana beach where we hiked across the island to a tortoise nesting site. I was saddened to see a sea lion that appeared to have been attacked by a shark. His tail was bitten off. There were three crab nests right next to the body, which allowed them easy access to feast on the carcass for some time. On the way back, we stopped to see the flamingos feeding on krill. This is what gives them their pink color.

The boat is moving now, not quite sure I know where to, not quite sure I care either. When we got back, they had another snack waiting for us, fried mashed plantain and fried mashed yucca roots shaped like dumplings with honey. They were delicious.