Overnight we had moved to James Island. It should be noted that if you start investigating any of these islands, most have several names. James Island is also known as Santiago or San Salvador Island. It was another early start today....up at 5.30am for a 6.00am departure to the island for a walk. Fabian, our guide, seems to like to get going before it gets too hot and there are too many people from other tours. It seems to work well.
James Island has a dark sand beach with lots of lava flow formations. We see loads of marine iguanas in the rock pools as we walk along the beach. Once again there is plenty of wildlife. We saw hawks, a whimbrel (standing on one leg as if he raised the other he would fall down...a Fabian joke), a tiny Galapagos 4 eyed blenny which is endemic to the area. This is a fish that can see above and below the water. It also comes out of the water and can travel over land...its very unusual and cool. There were also less patterned lava lizards to match the brown colouring of the island. As a lot of the landscape was formed from lava, there is lots of interesting stones and formations. I walk barefoot for as long as I can so I can to feel the sand and lava rock between my toes and on the grounding soles of my feet. Again we see eagle rays playing along the shoreline. Lava herons flying, pretty red crabs with turquoise underbellies, and more sea lions. Sadly we see two baby sea lions, only a few days old, that have been bitten by mosquitos and developed eye problems. But that is nature, as gets said quite often. We see fur seals (2) that I have not seen before anywhere else on the islands. We also see another lava tube where the roof has collapsed exposing the formation in the water. We also see Galapagos doves, Darwin finches, Galapagos hawks, brown pelicans and a great blue heron.
Back to the boat for breakfast which we are all looking forward to it appears. My little stomach upset seems to be leaving. After confessing that I slept in the spare cabin and trying to look my cutest..:), Fabian says its okay for me to move into the spare cabin as I am not fussed about the airconditioning not working. My roomy, Judith has trouble sleeping at the best of times apparently, so without me in the room she has a better chance of sleeping and can use the airconditioning whenever she wants. It must be an awful thing for people who have trouble sleeping. I am very lucky that does not often happen to me.About 9.30am it starts to rain....the first I have had since I have been here. Despite the rain we don our bathing suits and go snorkelling. It is still clear and the visibility is great. A couple of sea lions swim with us. We see hieroglyphic hawk fish (my first) and loads of big, really big, parrot fish, angel fish and barracuda. There is also a stingray, and some penguins....too many species to name, which is just spectacular to see.
We have lunch and leave here for Rabida Island. The weather was clearing on James Island but as we head south the rain appears to settle in and becomes quite heavy although it may clear. Rabida Island has a distinct red colour due to the high iron content in the lava. The volcanic rocks of Rabida are covered with palo santo trees, opuntia cacti and low, scrubby bushes. About 2.30pm we leave the MY San Jose for a cruise along the shoreline of Rabida Island and a walk along the red sand beach. We snorkel again and see more spectacular fish. If only I had an underwater camera!
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