If ever there a bad idea, then stopping here was one of them. The plan was initially beach time followed by a trail (long or short - to be decided by the individual). Flushed with our success at snorkelling, we were all set to try it again. This was to be a wet landing and for some people it was to be a very wet landing.
The beach had a very steep slope to it and the sea was quite rough with some good sized waves. The back run after the wave ran up the beach and wanted to run back again was very powerful and several people had their legs whipped away from under them by the force. The very choppy sea also meant that very few people attempted to go out and snorkel - only the experienced few went out and they came back saying it wasn't much fun in the strong current and wavy seas.
Perhaps we could salvage something of the afternoon with the trail. We chose the longer with prospects of cormorants, land and marine iguanas and possible tortoises in the wild. You can probably guess from the tone that it wasn't altogether successful. A couple of cormorants in a small bay and a single land iguana (and he took some finding)
The other features of this area are the high rocks with barnacles on top and the coral cones that are found quite far inland, providing evidence of uplifting of the land.
The ones shown here are quite small, but there were a couple that were 4 to 5 feet high and round.
The walk lasted about an hour and a half to two hours and was done in pretty high temperatures. It began along the edge of the shore and required climbing over some quite big rocks/lava formations. It continued along a trail, not always well marked. There were some birds to be seen during our travels, but not a lot to shout about. Eventually the trail returned to the beach where we readied ourselves for a wet boarding of the pangas to get back to the boat.
Sunset from the boat looking north over
Fernandina
The evening briefing for tomorrow took place, and it seems that it will be an exercise in "eco-tourism". The fishing village of Puerto Villamil over fished the waters and were asked what they would like to do for income if they were to stop over fishing - tourism came the predictive reply. So now the boat stops here and experiences what the town has to offer. I have bad vibes about this.