As mentioned, due to the tsunami delay, my 4 days on the boat (6 day trip in total) was cut short by almost 2 days. This means today (Tuesday 15 March) is meant to be my last day, leaving after breakfast...(imagine very sad face here!). Of course I have asked the tour company if I can stay for an extra to complete my trip but hadnt heard anything.
I have to get up early (6.00am for a 6.15am) for our final tour. This is our first before breakfast trip. We are glad as there is a cruise ship with 100 guests with us in this bay and we want to be in and out before they start coming ashore. This is to North Seymour Island to see the frigate birds and we are not disappointed. Up close we see many frigate birds, some of the males have their red balloons inflated and they can stay that way for 2 weeks while waiting to attract a mate. The balloon takes from 20mins to 2-3 hours to inflate. We also see the blue footed booby up close. There are loads of mosquitos on this island but they don’t seem to bite, thankfully! We also saw a baby frigate bird and a land iguana. We return and have breakfast before leaving for the airport.
I have to get up early (6.00am for a 6.15am) for our final tour. This is our first before breakfast trip. We are glad as there is a cruise ship with 100 guests with us in this bay and we want to be in and out before they start coming ashore. This is to North Seymour Island to see the frigate birds and we are not disappointed. Up close we see many frigate birds, some of the males have their red balloons inflated and they can stay that way for 2 weeks while waiting to attract a mate. The balloon takes from 20mins to 2-3 hours to inflate. We also see the blue footed booby up close. There are loads of mosquitos on this island but they don’t seem to bite, thankfully! We also saw a baby frigate bird and a land iguana. We return and have breakfast before leaving for the airport.
When we are ready to depart...all packed and everything, Diego advises that my request to stay longer has been approved. The conditions are that instead of one day though, I have to stay until Friday. This is great and the answer is yes but then the logisitics present themselves. I have no internet access and my mobile doesnt work in Ecuador....how do I contact my travel agent to get him to change my flight back to San Jose (again, there was already one change before I even left due to my lack of attention to detail rather than anything Alban did!)?? Diego suggests I come to the airport with them and I may be able to buy a phone card. It is a short distance from where the MY San Jose is tied up but no one is allowed to walk on the fuel dock except crew so passengers have to be ferried across. There is a little shop near the jetty where we get off the boat Diego asks and we are able to get a $6 phone card. I use his mobile to call Alban (my travel agent) and explain what is happening. When I finish I have 29 seconds left on the card!
So without a need to go to the airport, I say my goodbyes to Leonie and Diego and head back to the boat to await the new group of people. I head up to the bar/lounge deck and decide to read and snooze given our early start. As the time draws near for the other group to arrive I head downstairs to grab a cup of tea. In the lounge area, everyone has arrived and I hadnt even noticed! A group of 10, all from Australia except for 2 Canadians from Calgary. A mixed bag of ages from 18 to 70 (at a guess). They all seem nice.
We have lunch and then have a break until 4.30pm. At this time we take to the boats for a mangrove tour in Black Turtle Cove at another part of Santa Cruz Island. It is a beautiful mangrove setting where we see eagle rays playing on the surface, sea turtles (one quite close and at the surface), a baby shark, my first lava heron, pelicans, my first golden rays, close to the surface and great visibility. The boys have to row the boats in one part so we get a sense of the serenity and due to the shallowness of the water. We return to yummy roasted chicken pieces (I think).
We have a new guide called Fabian and Giovanni, the ships engineer, is now taking care of serving the meals in place of Jefferson, who has a week's vacation. This should be interesting. He is nervous and then horrified when he drops a grape from the dessert in my lap. We have a briefing of what the week holds and I discover Im still not going to the Charles Darwin research station or to see the giant tortoises!
The crew are introduced and we are all given caiparinhas as a toast to the start of the trip. We also go around and tell each other where we are from what we do etc. Fabian has an interesting story. Studying to avoid national service in Ecuador, he is German schooled, speaks French, German and English! He also has a farm with avocados and passionfruit, and works the minimum amount of time he needs to on the Galapagos to be able to continue his role as a guide. This means working there for 121 days each year. The laws changed around 1996 decreeing that only residents can work here, but he still qualified as there was an exemption for anyone who had been working here for 5 years previous to that time.
The day ended with a few of us sitting up chatting but eventually the long day for all of us won out and we all went to our cabins. I was meant to be sharing which was fine but Judith felt the heat and liked the cabin cool, as most passengers do. I discovered there was a vacant cabin that was not being used as the air conditioning wasnt working. As I hadnt been using the airconditioning prior to this, on principle and I prefer fresh air, I sneakily slept in there with the door open to the fresh sea air and had another blissful nights sleep!
The day ended with a few of us sitting up chatting but eventually the long day for all of us won out and we all went to our cabins. I was meant to be sharing which was fine but Judith felt the heat and liked the cabin cool, as most passengers do. I discovered there was a vacant cabin that was not being used as the air conditioning wasnt working. As I hadnt been using the airconditioning prior to this, on principle and I prefer fresh air, I sneakily slept in there with the door open to the fresh sea air and had another blissful nights sleep!
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