Friday 3.10.14 – Mosquera Islet, Bartolome Island

Motored for about 8-10 hour last night. Anchor was dropped about 1.00am – woke us up with a start. Given we are at the pointy end, the chain drops out of the ship somewhere near us.

Line up to fill waterbottles, before breakfast. L-R:
Bruce, Peter, Marg, John.

Oooh, the sun get's in your eyes. On the back deck,
filling water bottles, life jackets around the jacuzzi
and wetsuits drying out the back.

The hot breakfast buffet. Eggs, fritters, fritters
and pastries.

The cold breaky buffet, fruit,
cheese, juice, cereal,
yoghurts, bread etc.  Lee
tucking in.

The dining room Starboard side.

Galapagos Shark, circling the boat.

Sun sparkling on the water.

First stop this morning was Mosquera Islet, a small sand and rock island.

There were many Sea Lions, Marine Iguanas, Lava Lizards and the skeleton of a Minke Whale. We had an hour to wander around the Islet. Lots of broken shells, coral and barnacles all over the beach. More death and destruction here than we have seen elsewhere. There are Galapagos Sharks nearly which feed on the Sea Lions – saw a freshly killed Sea Lion with chunks out of it, could even see the shark’s teeth marks in the skin – gruesome! Our first thought was that a Sea Lion Pup somewhere, would not be getting a feed. There were also a few carcasses of young pups. We saw some of the sharks circling around the ship this morning – evidently they feed at night. One of the guides was up at midnight and saw about 25 sharks around the ship last night.

Mosquera Islet.

A Minke Whale skeleton. With our group looking
on. L-R. Alessandro (guide in Orange hat), Jenny,
Graham, Ann, Cherie, Peter, Bob, Rosie, Suzie and
Hernan (our guide.)

What's that your pointing at Gay (with Jenny, Peter
and Bob looking on.)

Something overhead Cherie?

This poor bugger didn't make
it. Galapagos Shark snack
overnight.

Little Lava Lizard.

A dry Sea Lion, very light colour.

Marine Iguana, liked the
colours on him.

Ever present Sally Lightfoot Crabs.

MI

LL

Lots of Barnacles.

Suzie, checking something out.

Bob, with that lens again.

Lots of evidence of the cycle of life this morning.
A Sea Lion bone.

Oystercatcher.

Seeing double.

Lots of lazing about, warming up. The Marine
Iguanas, feed on the algae in the water, so they
have to warm up before and after swimming to
raise their body temperature.

Bird? Can anyone help out?

Larraine sitting on the beach, and the Sea Lion
came over to say "G'day"

Cute sandy guy.

Some driftwood.

Lunch today was an Ecuadorian buffet. Most lunches have been a buffet – chicken something, fish something, vegies, fritters, rice plus pretty good selection of salads, cheese platter, followed by desert of cake and fruit or a mousse (blancmange)

Lots of people up and about today in siesta time, sorting through their pictures for a trip presentation – 6 photos per person.
Our deep water snorkel this am saw again, good clear water, Sea Lions and lots of tropical fish.

Getting some instructions. L-R - Penny, Hernan,
Dorelle,Peter, Rosie, Bruce and Bruce.

Corals and Colour.

After siesta and some very rocking and rolling motoring between Mosquera Islet and Bartolome Island, we were ready to disembark for a dry landing on an amazing geologically interesting Island. We walked up a boardwalk with 365 steps, which took us up the side of a volcanic vent. It was pretty much a moonscape to look at, with evidence of small lava flows and the results of rocks being spewed out of vents. There was ash and layers and rocks, and wrinkles and shiny melted bit of rock. Very hard to describe. It was craggy and some bits looked hollow. From the top of 365 steps we had a view across the bays, and across an almost perfectly round bay, that was the result of one of the rocks spewing from the vent. We could see over Bartolome Island, Pinnacle rock, past the Chinaman’s Hat, to Santiago Island and others I can’t recall.

Pinnacle Rock.

BFB.

Pinnacle Rock from another angle.

We climbed up to get to here. Eventually there
was 365 steps. Penny and Hernan.

Lee and Marg.

Larraine.

Some of the lava, you can see where it flowed.

Lava Cactus.

Layers of ash.

Pretty good views from the top. Chinamans's Hat
Island.

Our crew today. L=R Lee, Hernan, John, Penny,
Larraine, Bob, Marg, Suzie, Rosie, Jenny

A ring of rock, caused by a rock spewing from
a vent.

Pinnacle Rock, yet again, from another angle.
That's the beach we ended up on to the right. We
snorkelled there.

Following the walk we took the zodiac back to the ship with a quick detour into the bay to see if there were any Galapagos Penguins, we saw 2 on the rocks and another swam out of the water to join them. This was a real highlight from many, for whom this was the only Penguin species they hadn’t seen.

Two Galapagos Penguins.

Penguins. This is a Galapagos Penguin.

And here comes number 3 to join them.

Cute little guys.

A bit of pink in his bill.

All three standing sentinel.

This guy was singing loudly.

Pinnacle Rock - AGAIN!

A quick turn around back on board for those going snorkelling, we had a beach entry, and snorkelled around the rocks at the bay’s edge, there were some great ledges and rocky bits, all the way around to Pinnacle rock. Saw fantastic fish, Sea Stars, White-tipped Reef Sharks, anemone’s and coral.

You guessed it - Pinnacle rock
from the water.

And again bit of water on the lens.

We called it Chocolate Chip Sea Star.

Sea Stars everywhere here.

This Heron was on the rocks. I popped over to
have a look and the bugger actually caught a fish
and started to try and eat it.

I loved their patterns and colours.

My favourite and I found my 'Pocket Guide'. Its
a King Angelfish.

A lovely purplish blue color.

Sea star, fish and Sea Star.

A whole galaxy of Sea Stars.

Hieroglyphic Hawkfish

White - tipped Reef Shark.

The sands on these different islands have been fascinating in geology terms – one of the guides suggested that the powdery white sand was actually Sea Lion poop. This morning was white and shelly, this afternoon was golden sand.