Hola Amigos y Familia:
This dispatch takes us west to the islands of Marchena, Isabela, and Fernandina, the next part of the Galapagos Northwest Itinerary we were following. The day’s agenda changed when we woke up to find out our chef, Omar, had experienced a medical emergency in the early morning, requiring us to go back (eastward) toward Genovesa for proper medical resources. We witnessed our first ever mid-ocean airlift, hoisting Omar in a basket up to a helicopter which transported him to a Guayaquil hospital on the Ecuadorian mainland. Subsequently we learned he was found in a diabetic coma and was now doing much better.
Our land excursion on Marchena was now abandoned, leaving us to snorkel off Marchena’s Punta Mejia. Thus began our collective struggles donning full wet suits, laughingly and inadvertently putting our legs into the arm sleeves, getting zipped up in back by anyone at hand, 6-8 of us in each of the 2 pangas attempting to deftly slip our flippers on without foul language directed at the panga confines interfering with this effort. All this while battling 4 foot swells, motoring in the midst of bottlenose dolphins who were sailing and twisting in the air. Later we would be able to snorkel without wet suits due to warmer waters, just off shore from a 1992 volcanic eruption. I was enjoying sea lions underwater a few feet from me when Morris swam by, ushering me down deeper, pointing out a 6 foot White Tipped shark, cruising 10 feet in front of us, also pointing out a Sting Ray blending into the sand below, disturbing him to the point that he literally ‘sailed’ away. This snorkeling spot was rich with activity, my spotting a Moray eel, diving down within a couple of feet of it, when it poked its head further out, opening its mouth vertically which sent me scurrying, Morris left to take a photo. This kind of ‘service’ on the part of Morris led to better-than-average tips at the end of our time on the SAMBA. Maggie espied a maroon White-Spotted starfish on the sea floor whose picture she took, swimming back to the panga among schools of Angel fish and Moorish Idols. After another marvelous meal (the new chef carried on Omar’s tradition of excellence), Morris gave us a preview of the following day’s agenda, including hand signals to watch for designating different sea life, e.g., moving both fists with a ‘going forward’ motion, emulating handling reins, ergo, Sea Horse.
We motored until midnight to Punta Albemarle (Northeast tip of Isabela). Knocks on the doors of our teeny tiny cabins woke us up at 5:30 a.m. We scarfed down Oreo cookies, chips and coffee to sustain us on our flotilla of a dozen kayaks, paddling along the lava cliffs, Maggie and I sharing a double, mesmerized by the tidal action creating mini-Niagara Falls which spilled down with ebbing of the tide. Sea Turtles popped up in front and alongside of us, visible underneath us as well due to the water clarity and early morning sun. We eventually entered an intertidal area where we were up close and personal, within a couple of feet of Flightless Cormorants, the adults with their bright turquoise-colored eyes, Marine Iguanas and a Blue-Footed Booby sighting midway up the cliffs. However, the highlight of this early morning outing was a male Sea Lion sporting 6 inch long whiskers, halfway out of the water, facing the rising sun, basking in its warmth. We signaled to the rest of the flotilla and soon we were surrounding him, which only served to bloat his ego, posing for us for at least 15 minutes, after which we tired of his self-importance and paddled back to meet the SAMBA half way, as we had been gone over an hour. At breakfast, Morris, who was born and raised in the Galapagos, shared a diving experience off Baltras Island where he had years ago found an 8 foot bomb in the waters, reporting it to the authorities, who subsequently found 18 more in the area, half of which were ‘live’. This was a prelude to our visit later in the day to a base abandoned by Americans after the end of WWII, where clean ups were shoddy, debris thrown into the sea, including jeeps, or merely left on the lava beds, too big to move, e.g., concrete housing foundations and rusty utility equipment relics.
A dry landing after breakfast had us atop lava rocks and immediately into a confluence of Marine Iguanas, Sea Lions and Flightless Cormorants, a couple of whom were spooning with their necks entwined. Morris explained that these birds, ceased flying due to being preyed upon by Giant Frigates, thus evolving to having shorter wings and being unable to fly, surviving on this 1 million year old island by diving for their food. Morris pointed out Mt. Wolf enshrouded in cloud cover in the distance, an active volcano last erupting in 2015 and home to 300 Pink Iguanas which are only found on Isabela. We walked through chunks, slabs and shafts of volcanic rock, and around boulders, testing our footing capabilities, avoiding sandy areas of indentions, signs of iguana nesting egg burials. Returning to our starting point, we passed by a confluence of fauna species: a beautiful brown and tan shelled Carey Turtle at the edge of a tide pool, a mother Sea Lion and her pup, 2 Marine Iguanas, and a Green Sea Turtle who had covered itself with sand. Back on the SAMBA we motored around the Northwestern shores of Isabela and south to moor off Punta Vicente Roca on Isabela’s western shores, crossing the equator on that passage, watching the electronic gear on the bridge register all zeros for the latitude reading, neither south or north. Before we reached our mooring for the afternoon, we spotted the top fin of the Ocean Sunfish (either the Mola Mola or the Mola Ramsayi), viewing this fish’s 6 foot vertical finned body below the surface upon approach. Weight of these can be as much as a ton, making them the heaviest known bony fish on the planet.
Our afternoon wet suit snorkel off of Punta Vicente Roca lasted an hour, near a giant and deep grotto, with up to 100 Green Sea Turtles, one of which actually hit me in passing! They would swim toward us, diving between our legs at the last minute or merely drifting by us. I followed one of them, hovering above it, mimicking its every move, being carried by the current, diving down to swim alongside it, looking into its huge eye, a most peaceful experience. After surfacing, I was directed by our Boatman to Marine Iguanas swimming near us at the base of the lava cliff. Maggie experienced a Sea Lion coming toward her and diving between her legs, with small Galapagos Penguins darting every which way, making it extremely difficult to get a photo, however Maggie did get a video. The size of the arced grotto was too much to ignore, so we spent some time exploring it, swimming 100 feet into the darkness at the back until tidal action was such we thought it was best to exit into the sunlight. Outside the grotto, while taking the panga back to the ship and hunting for more Molas, we espied some Blue-Footed Boobies perched on the lava cliffs and on an adjacent non-lava hillside area, where more of them were performing a mating dance.
Our final destination for this dispatch is Fernandina Island, the youngest of the Archipelago at less than 100,000 years old, motoring south to its Northeastern tip, Punta Espinoza, to anchor for the night, rising at 6:00 a.m. for a ‘proper’ dry landing, stepping onto a half dozen concrete steps leading to a similarly constructed smooth walkway for 10 feet, and onto the flat lava expanse that represents 95% of Fernandina’s land mass. Only 5 months previous, La Cumbre Volcano erupted here over a 4 day period, while the last actual lava flow occurred in 2005. Our first big sighting of the day was a ‘pile’ of Marine Iguanas (250,000 throughout the Galapagos), heaped on top of each other, keeping themselves warm overnight in a kind of ‘group hug’, being ectothermic creatures. Several were sneezing out excess salt that would land a foot away. Nearby were some small lizards, a Ground Finch riding the back of an iguana, ridding it of parasites amid the sounds of barking male Sea Lions. As usual, Morris had more amusing factoids for us: young male Marine Iguanas often ‘sneaking’ into groups and mate with females without detection because, at that age, they look like females and by the time they are detected, it’s too late! Anomalies like this led Morris to share that in 1982 thousands of these reptiles died as a result of the El Nino where algae became scarce, leading iguanas to shrink in size, via bone changes, so food needs would decrease. The following La Nina allows them to grow back to normal size levels, which is a 2 year process. One of our more irreverent fellow travelers, hearing Morris’ stories, and seeing the abundance of unusual animals, developed a mantra over our week together, “You just can’t make this sh_t up”!!!
Further on this early morning hike, we came across Flightless Cormorants drying out their stubby short wings and saw our first Galapagos Hawk, a baby, dining on the carcass of an iguana its mother had killed. We spotted the mother 100 meters away, at the top of a distant tree, keeping her eye on her prodigy. Nearby, this iguana had also provided its intestines for a slew of Sally Lightfoot crabs, surrounded by the reptilian survivors. Sea Lions frolicked in a nearby a tidal pool, yawning, displaying the bright red insides of their mouths, a 3”-4” lizard scampering about, then stopping, issuing 2 head bobs, and then repeated. Walking through the lava fields, it was noticeable how the iguanas blend in quite nicely with the swirled lava rocks and how refreshing it was to come upon an abundance of cacti on this hike to offset the expanses of grayness. On the shoreline we saw our first Lava Heron, perched on the tip of a tree branch, its beak pointing to the water’s surface, poised to spear its next meal. The foliage here consisted of red (large-leafed) and white (small leafed) mangrove trees. By now we had worked up quite an appetite and were back on the boat for breakfast by 8:00 a.m. to replenish ourselves for morning snorkeling and more struggles with getting in and out of our gear.
The waters here were rife with Green Sea Turtles, the rocky sea bottom covered with verdant soft-looking and close-cropped vegetation, reminding us of an aerial view of Austria’s Stubai Valley. Turtles, iguanas and fish alike, feasting away! Some of us inadvertently floated into the ‘feeding zone’ and were waved off, leading a couple of us to play with some of the ‘kids’ from the Sea Lion ‘kindergarten’, who found us interesting, racing toward us, rolling on their backs, teasing and taunting us, we, trying to make the same moves, upside down antics, forcing us to surface and blow out water…definitely needed the big breakfast for this. As we motored away in our pangas, our 2 young Sea Lion playmates were “porpoising” behind us until they were corralled by an adult male and taken away for a ‘time out’. After lunch we motored the SAMBA south through the Canal de Bolivar with Isabela Island on our port side, Fernandina Island on the starboard side, eventually anchoring in Urbina Bay off Isabela. We finished off the day going ashore for turtle nest viewing, walking a comfortable sand and gravel trail, coming across a Land Iguana, golden in color. Maggie and I looked very fashionable in our makeshift rain gear, blue plastic bags from the kitchen, punching through holes for our head and arms at the last minute as a slight rain came.
Our next dispatch explores more of Isabela and Elizabeth Bay, moving on to Floreana and Santa Cruz Islands.
Salud, Stan & Maggie