Tuesday 30.9.14 – North Seymour and Playa Bachas Islands.

Briefing last night after a delicious dinner, followed shortly after by bed. I think everyone is catching up on sleep lost at altitude. In bed by about 10.00 last night and up at 6.15ish. Overnight we have moved to a bay off North Seymour Island, which is relatively calm.

Up on deck to see sunrise, but cloudy, saw a Galapagos Shark swimming near the ship, much bigger than the one I had seen previously.

After breaky it was off for a walk on North Seymour where we were amazed to see stacks of birds, particularly Frigate birds, both Great and Magnificent. There were whole sections of the bush on the island where the bachelor Frigates hang out, puffing up their pouches to attract a mate. Both males and females look after the young, so there are bachelor Frigates, young Frigates and mothers all in the same nesting area, nesting on really very rickety unstable shrubs. We were treated to a fantastic display of males inflating their pouches and then drumming their beaks on them to attract the females. All this happening only a metre or two away.

We also saw our first proper look at Blue-Footed Boobies, we saw pairs, babies, eggs and lots of them flying overhead and diving for fish. There were also Galapagos Doves, and a Lava Gull. We saw more Sea Lions, one newborn and one surfing in the waves. On North Seymour there were also more Marine and Land Iguanas and Lava Lizards and the ever present Swallow Tailed Gull and Brown Pelicans overhead.

On board the Zodiac and ready to go. R-L - Suzie,
Santi, Bob, Peter, Larraine, ?

Yes in amongst the branches, THERE are the
Blue feet of the Blue Footed Booby.

Frigate bird, flying by.

Those Feet.

Nazca Booby shooting by.

A Sea Lion surfing in the waves.

New born pup, yes that is the blood on the sand.

Lava Gull.

A pair of Boobies chatting. He is trying to attract
her attentions.

Nup, she's not falling for that.

Frigate with pouch blowing up.

Amazing how big the pouch got.

A baby Frigate.

See how MANY there were and how CLOSE
we were.

Now there's a better shot of those Blue Feet.

He seemed to be doing a bit of a dance.

A flower on a tree.

Lava Lizard - females have the red throat.

Baby Frigate - can't remember - I think it's the
Magnificent Frigate that has the brown head as a
juvenile.

Land Iguana.

Juvenile Great Frigate - Maybe?????

Land Iguana, digging a hole
in the most dry, rocky ground.
Very muscly legs tho.

That's him sticking his head out to check us out.

Juvenile Frigate and on a guano smattered rock.

Flying Frigate.

Many flying Frigates.

Here we are getting ready to board the Zodiac
back to the ship.

As we leave the next group awaits.

Brown Pelican.

Frigate - I liked their split tail.

Suzie, assuming the position...
photographing wildlife, it is
from the back of the Ship, not the
Zodiac, hence no life jacket.

After that visit it was back to the ship, time to collect the passports and credit cards we had handed over on arrival and then a quick change into togs and snorkelling gear. We did a deep water snorkel off the rocks of North Seymour – it was awesome! I saw White-tipped Reef Sharks, a Marbled Ray, a whole school of Razor Surgeonfish and had fantastic fun with a few Sea Lions who were playing with us, shooting around and under us as we lumbered along in our gear. I hope I managed some good shots. There were lots of other fish as well. It was a brilliant snorkel.

I really liked these guys, I have the name in a
brochure we have, but it's in the luggage...
I'm sure there will another photo, where I can
name them.

Another cool little fish, I loved the white spots under
his fin.

A whole school of Razor Sturgeonfish.

Selfie with the school, I was pretty much in amongst
them.

Sea Lions performing for us. It was hard
to get focus though, between them
moving so quickly and me so excited,
 that I just kept pushing the shutter without
time to focus.

They were like torpedoes under there.

He was really very close, eyeballing me.

Snorkel done, we head back to ship...dry mouths
and ready for lunch.

Back to the ship for lunch – we get a three course meal everyday – soup/salads/fish/meat/rice/vegies followed by cake and a mousse of some description. After lunch it was downtime for a couple of hours as we motored to our next location.

Looking to the Island of Baltra, this is the airport
buildings we flew into. The Galapagos are making
a real effort to move away from fossil fuel.

We moored off a sandy beach at Playa Bachas or Santa Cruz Island. We went ashore with snorkelling gear as there was a beach snorkel to do after our walk.

The beach we landed on.

We started off on the sand and saw some Marine Iguanas and the last remaining evidence of a US army base from the second world war (there were a few metal bits in the sand), then over the dunes to a lagoon with two American Flamingo’s and a Great Blue Heron, then back along the beach past some rocks, with more Sally Lightfoot Crabs and Marine Iguanas – to another lagoon, with three American Flamingo’s and two Black Necked Stilts. Saw a Blue Footed Booby dive for fish, amazing dive from on high. Then back to our gear for a snorkel. Suzie was having a go at this snorkel. It was a lovely beach, but a couple of other groups from the Coral II were there also, there were too many people in the water, it was choppy and visibility was pretty ordinary, with stirred up sand in the water. Not a great snorkel at all…but a very nice swim.

To unload on a 'wet' landing, the Zodiac,
lifted the motor and backed into the beach,
Was often a bit wet getting off. Always difficult
getting back on at the end of trips ashore.

Marine Iguana.

Walking along the beautiful sandy beach.

A ghost crab, hiding from us, but it's not his hole,
so he couldn't disappear altogether.

Just liked the shape of this rock.

A lagoon behind the beach, with American
Flamigoes. The dark trail behind, is the
tracks they leave in the mud as they
move around eating crustaceans (from which
they get their pink colour.)

A Great Blue Heron.

Another Marine Iguana, heading towards the
Lagoon.

Great Blue Heron a little closer.

The ship. It always looks good from shore.

Suzie had a snorkel, from the beach entry.

A sea cucumber maybe.

Same deal at day’s end, dinner, briefing and bed. We all can’t seem to get enough sleep, we are early to bed and sleeping soundly as we motor to our next location.Back to the ship for a shower – we still haven’t had a HOT shower, water is tepid and fluctuates, but still nice to be clean.