Today we say farewell to the travellers that are on the four night cruise and hello to those on the three night one. This means that the ship has a bit of an identity crisis while some of us try and do a outing while others are checking out or checking in. The end result is not the best day for wildlife viewing and trail walking.
The morning trail for us is an outing to El Junco - the only fresh water lake in the Galapagos. Unfortunately this is up in the mountains and as we've already noted, in the morning the highlands are cloudy. Double unfortunate is that it is also a bit cloudy on the lowlands, too, or rather its raining, not a lot but wet none-the-less.
It comes as no surprise that after a 30 to 40 minute bus ride up the mountain we have to take the guide's word that there is a lake there. Actually we went down a bit of a trail (hazardous when wet - like today) to the lakeside.
The trip was cut short "no point walking round the lake" says the guide, and we return to town. Some (unscheduled) free time around the town. The weather has brightened up now and it's warm and sunny again. We return to the ship while others return to the airport.
In the afternoon we are off to Ochoa Beach, via an area of seal-lions and turtles where an opportunity is given to snorkel. En route we make a small diversion to where some fishermen are gutting fish and there are tens of frigate birds swooping around the boat - like something out of a Hitchcock film ("The Birds" by the way, not "Psycho").
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When we get to the sea-lions and turtle area the sea seems a bit cold but I am loaned a wet suit which was fantastic - no fear of cold water now. During the snorkel a 6 foot by 2 foot bull sea-lion passes inches from me. Wow.
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White Banded Angelfish
The beach is intended as another snorkel time (no trail), Val goes into the sea, but I got cramp earlier and didn't want to make it worse so I watched.
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The beach had little in the way of wildlife, so when the new members of the ship turned up for their first outing, this wasn't as good as our first day.
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As you can see - mainly sea-lions.
The flight was late in so everything ran late today resulting in a late briefing and dinner. Tomorrow is one of the reasons we are on this trip - Espanola - so quite excited about that trail
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