We woke up early yet again to sit out on deck and look for whales and other marine wildlife. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any, but we did hear some interesting stories about whaling ships in the Galapagos, such as the one that inspired the book Moby Dick. We also had some nice views of the volcanoes on Isabela.
Volcano at dawn
After breakfast we took a zodiac ride around Punta Vicente Roca. As soon as we ventured out we ran into a huge group of sea turtles swimming around our zodiac.
Sea turtle swimming next to our zodiac
On the rocks of the island we saw some flightless cormorants fluttering their short stubby wings. These birds can’t fly but they can sure swim! We saw a few diving in the water. We also saw sea lions, fur seals, and marine iguanas perched on the rocks.
Flightless cormorant spreading its wings
We ventured into a cave where some sea lions were frolicking about, then headed toward to the open sea in search of the elusive mola mola, or ocean sunfish. Unfortunately that wasn’t successful either, but it was relaxing to zoom around on the zodiacs rather than hiking rocky terrain.
Right after the zodiac ride we donned our snorkeling gear once again and headed back out to the area where we saw all the sea turtles. There were about a dozen in our immediate vicinity and some were quite large. This was when Josh almost ran into one, as he was chasing a diving cormorant trying to take a picture of it. He was concentrating so much on the bird that he didn’t see a turtle coming straight at him and had to flail his arms about to prevent himself from running into it. We all had a good laugh at his expense.
More underwater turtle shots
After a delicious Ecuadorian buffet lunch that featuring a whole roasted suckling pig and two of the best desserts I’ve ever tasted, a sandwich cookie filled with caramel and a sinfully moist tres leches cake, we took an afternoon excursion to Punta Espinosa. We trekked over the solid black ropey lava that covers this part of the island and saw more sea lions, flightless cormorants, and tons of marine iguanas.
Ropey lava and lava cactuses
At one point we saw the massive remnants of whale bones, though those were brought to that particular area, not because a whale had actually died on that spot. Still, they were pretty cool.
Whale bones
Josh thought the ropey lava reminded him of the glaciers in the Alaska. I could see the similar characteristics but they were a much smaller scale on the lava. The cracks in the lava were nothing like the crevasses that you could fall into in the glaciers. As we prepared to take the zodiacs back to the ship, we were treated to yet another beautiful sunset.
Breakfast:
French toast, scrambled eggs with ham, muffin
Lunch:
Ceviche topped with popcorn and roasted corn kernals
Whole roasted suckling pig
Rice, avocado, pan de yuca, suckling pig, hominy, yuca fritter, fish I think, beet salad in the middle
The best tres leches cake and caramel sandwich cookie, plus a stewed fig in the back
Dinner:
Endive and apple salad with walnuts
Super moist turkey topped with mushrooms, sweet potato puree and some kind of frittata
Some kind of white fish topped with bruschetta
Tiramisu