Santiago Island

I managed to sleep in a little, so it was around 5:30 when I went down to the lounge to make tea. Mary stayed in the room doing her exercises while I chatted with Mark since we were the only two passengers up. By around 6:15 others came down for the morning coffee.

Land iguana at Puerto Egas

After a breakfast of sunny side up eggs and assorted fruits and juices, we prepared to go to Puerto Egas on Santiago Island to see fur seals and a unique natural bridge in the lava. There were many sea lions and several marine iguanas as well as a few land iguanas that had a lot more yellow pigmentation than others we have seen. We also walked to a natural bridge along the ocean made of columns of basalt. We were back in the panga for the short ride to the Galaxy Yacht. Marcelo met us with a glass of tree tomato juice and dishes of fried plantain chips.

Sea lions at Puerto Egas

We put our wetsuits on and gathered our snorkel gear to swim around Puerto Egas where we saw large schools of anchovies, wrasse, parrotfish and others. One sea lion investigated us but lost interest quickly. The water was nice, but we didn’t see many sea lions and no turtles or marine iguanas.

Lunch was a buffet of beef and chicken shish kabobs with shrimp fried rice. Dessert was spiced pears. Everything was quite good.

Mary preparing to snorkel Bahia Bucanero

After lunch we were at a Bahia Bucanero on Santiago Island where we took the pangas out to look at the area. Our pangas went into a large lava tube that was interesting. We floated by an island where we saw a couple of new birds: swallowtail gull and Nazca booby. The ride was nice, but we returned to the Galaxy to put wetsuits back on and snorkel along Santiago Island. I opted to not snorkel this afternoon, but Mary went in briefly. There were some large schools of fish in some places but nothing that we hadn’t seen before. We returned to the Galaxy where Marcelo had a snack and guava juice for us. We cleaned up and dried off in our cabins when we heard the captain sound the air horn. We stepped out of our cabin and the first mate pointed to the ocean just outside our cabin door where we saw a killer whale (orca) following the ship. We think that we were the only passengers to see the whale.

Nazca booby at Bahia Bucanero

We sat outside for a while enjoying the beautiful day while the ship sailed toward Cerro Dragon or Dragon Hill on Santa Cruz Island. Mary and Cindy played cribbage while Mark and I sat out on the deck watching for wildlife. There was the daily briefing at 6:30 where we learned of plans for tomorrow and a little of Friday’s plans. Dinner started with an appetizer of squash and cheese soup. The main course was a choice of chicken or tuna. Most people, including us opted for the tuna steak with sesame seed coating with a serving of quinoa and green beans on the side. We sat with the three sisters and our guide, Willo. The conversation was fun, mostly hearing about Willo growing up in the Galápagos Islands.

Throughout the trip we have remarked about what an exception group we have. On other trips we have taken there always seems to be at least one complainer, someone who is never satisfied with the trips, the food, the room, etc. However, this group of 15 works together and genuinely gets along. I hope that future trips we take include such nice people.