Eden
Inlet (Santa Cruz) and Sombrero Chino Islet
We were woken at 3.45am when the ship lifted the anchor
so it could be moved to our first activity point by 6am. We are also the 2nd
cabin from the bow, so very close to the anchor. We tried to get back to sleep
but the movement of the ship kept Lesley awake.
After breakfast we went on pangas (zodiacs) to look at
wildlife along the nearby shoreline. We saw a large number of marine iguanas,
numerous birds (Blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, Brown pelican), a lone Galapagos
sea lion and a few Galapagos penguins.
Back to the ship and we then went on a glass bottom boat
(in lieu of deep water snorkelling) to look at the fish swimming next to the
island. As the Galapagos Islands are devoid of rivers and streams and therefore
the associated nutrients, the water is clear (visibility is very good, at least
15m), but there is not much that fish can eat, other than algae growing on the
rocks.
During lunch the ship changed positon, to another area of
the archipelago. We went out on the pangas again to do a walk over lava flows
on Chinaman’s Hat/Sombrero Island to see baby sea lions waiting for their mums
to come back after a day of fishing.
They were so cute, but we weren’t allowed
to touch them, and had to move out of the way if they came towards us. We also
saw a couple of marine iguanas and more of the red crabs. A Galapagos penguin
swam around the group who went swimming. The rest of the group went out further
to do some deep-sea snorkelling. The water was about 23 degrees, and lovely
once we got past the initial shock of cold. Everywhere were very pretty red crabs (Sally Lightfoot Crab), with lovely markings in various colours on their shells.
The ship later took a cruise around some islands, going
very slowly past one which was very obviously a small extinct volcano with one
side blown out. The crater has a lake inside, home to a flock of flamingos that
were feeding.
The ship stopped before tea and we overnighted at
Bartolomé Island.
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