It was a stunning morning. We had arrived at Santa Fe the previous night and woke up to green and blue water, sandy beaches, sunshine, and wheezing sea lions.
After breakfast we headed ashore to look for the land iguana, a species of iguana found only on the island of Santa Fe. To date we had only seen marine iguanas. As its name suggests, the land iguana lives exclusively on land and is a vegetarian. They are known to have poor eyesight but excellent hearing. A land iguana may not see a delicious cactus flower nearby, but if that flower happens to be within earshot when it falls to the ground, the land iguana will hear it and have a tasty meal.
As we waited to be picked up in the dinghy, we amused ourselves by watching the sea lion colony lazing on the beach. It's only been a few days, but we are already learning to distinguish males from females and to approximate their ages. I don't think I'll ever tire of watching sea lions roll over each other like 250 kilo steam rollers!
Our two favorite activities were next: snacking and snorkeling! We saw a few new fish, including one small fish with electric blue spot, and a lobster. It is not currently lobster catching season and earlier in the week we saw authorities boarding a fishing boat for a routine check that it did not have any illegally caught lobsters or turtles. It is reassuring to see the regulations are strictly enforced.
And of course, we got to swim with sea lions! I can't believe that every time we have gone snorkeling near sea lions, they have come over to check us out. They are so incredibly inquisitive and friendly.
We also managed to spot a couple of graceful turtles. They really do look like they are just flying though the water.
A few hours later, we had sailed to Punta Carion, the channel between Santa Cruz and Baltra, for more snorkeling. This time there were no sea lions around as we were in shark territory! We didn't see any hammerhead sharks but there were so many fish! They all seemed to be in a hurry to go in different directions, like lanes on a fish highway (hmm, maybe I still have Antarctica's penguin highways on the brain?). Because there were so many fish, there were also plenty of birds trying to eat said fish. At one point, I got such a fright when I was thinking about the sharks and suddenly there was a big commotion in the water and all the fish scattered! It turned out to be a hungry pelican hunting its dinner but it startled the hell out of me.
Necessity dictated our evening be spent on a pier at Santa Cruz as we waited for a delivery of fresh water to last us the next few days. Unfortunately, this meant the mosquitos who inhabit the mainland temporarily inhabited our boat! We did our best to conquer the mosquitos and, when that inevitably failed, ignore them by playing cards (I don't think I had played Spoons since middle school!). Before too long, we were howling with laughter as the Flamingo sailed the calm waters under the stars and moon to our anchor spot for the night.
Today's animals:
Santa Fe land iguana
Lava lizards
Galapagos dove (aka pigeon)
Galapagos hawk
Sea lions
Lobster
Turtles
Sting rays
Fish
Prickly pear cactus
Blue footed boobies
Frigates
Pelicans
Crabs
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