I swam with sea lions today!!

(To have been posted Sunday night... oops!)

Today our morning started out, as I’ve already told you, waking up an hour early. We ate breakfast at our hotel, Hotel San Vicente, and then made sandwiches to take with us on our tour of the Vocán Sierra Negra. They were tuna and queso fresco sandwiches. Not normally one of my favorites, but once we got to lunch time, they were great!
We left the hotel with our guide, Javier, at about 8 am. Turns out our group included the people that we came over on the boat with, the Brits, Katy and Simon, and the ‘intellectuals,’ Maria and José who live in Canada but are from Venezuela originally. We also picked up four more people from other random groups: three more Brits, Tiffany, Nicola (lovely British name) and Claire, and one American, Jenna, from Los Angeles. Together the ten of us and our guide went into the ‘highlands’ of Isabela Island to see one of the volcanoes that created the island, Volcán Sierra Negra. It was a little bit cloudy on the coast, but it was almost completely covered in clouds and mist inland.
The first part of the trip up the volcano was on horseback. It was a few people in our group’s first time on horses (including Slocomb) but everyone did very well. It was raining on the way up, so the path was extremely muddy. I felt bad for the horses, but I was very glad not to be climbing up on foot. At the first part of the trip, my horse decided to chill out alone between the groups which was fine with me. When we got a little further up, the guides wanted us to all stay together, which my horse wasn’t so cool with. He was quite figety and kept trying to go around the other horses. He even bit one other horse’s tail and tried to bite another’s neck. He got the nickname “demon horse,” which I understand. He was a great horse to ride, but he just wanted to be alone!
When we got to the top, we weren’t able to really see anything because of all of the mist and fog. We went over to a ‘parasitic’ volcano, Volcán Chico. The last time that the larger volcano, Sierra Negra, erupted was October 2005, but the last time Volcán Chico saw any action was back in 1979. Before that, there hadn’t been anything for many hundreds of years, so we could see the difference in the ‘old’ lava and the ‘new’ lava because the iron in the old lava had oxidized and turned red. We also got to see into the crater of Volcán Chico and the lava tunnels all around. The colors were incredible! Bright reds and oranges and some blues all surrounded by lots of black. There were even ferns growing inside the crater of the volcano, suggesting that they were among the first plants to arrive in Galapagos after the islands were created by volcanoes. It was also interesting because Galapagos is known for being a place with such great ecological diversity, but it all started out as lava fields.
We all had brought sandwiches for lunch which we ate in the rain under a tree. We did get to see a few little birds while we were eating lunch, but they were mostly more interested in trying to eat our lunch than in being observed or photographed. We were hoping that the weather would clear during our hike to Volcán Chico or lunch, but it didn’t. So we didn’t get to see the crater of Volcán Sierra Negra (the second largest volcanic crater in the world), but we got some idea of the scope. On the way down, we walked a little bit (about 3 km in the mud, good times!) around the crater. Even though we were going circularly, the circle around the crater was so large that it seemed like we were walking straight!! It was still raining and very muddy on the way down, and our guide was very determined to get down the mountain as fast as possible. There wasn’t anything to see, but it was still too fast for me. I kept being afraid that I would fall in the hurry or lose the guide who was so far ahead. I suppose he wanted to get to the next thing (snorkeling), but I guess I’m just not as fast a walker as our guide is.
That afternoon we went out to Concha de Perla to snorkel, just the six of us in our group: Maria and José, Katy and Simon, and Slocomb and myself. On the walk on the pier to the snorkeling sight, we came across a sea lion just chilling out on the pier. He didn’t want to move for us, but since sea lions can be aggressive, we scared him off onto a rock. It was Slocomb’s, Maria’s and Katy’s first time snorkeling, but it still went okay. Katy didn’t really go for it at first, and José didn’t stay out very long. But Slocomb, Maria, Simon and I, along with our guide Javier (same one as the morning), went all around the bay. We got to swim with a couple of sea lions, which was incredible. The sea lion we saw on land was so ungainly and awkward, but the one in the ocean was incredibly graceful and agile. Javier told us that when you are in a group, the sea lions try to come play with you. Apparently when you’re by yourself, they’re not quite sure what you are. Anyway, we got to play a little with the sea lion and see tons of fish. We even saw a manta ray and a starfish that was black and bright orange. Everything under the water was so incredibly colorful! It was still cloudy and cold, but we still had a great opportunity to see lots.
We came back to the hotel for dinner and to hang out. There is a hot tub, and Slocomb and I tried to use it. Unfortunately, the water heater wasn’t working, so it was really just a cold tub. I decided to take a hot shower instead... The hotel here is nice and cute, but not something to write home about, just like the food. Its plentiful and good, but nothing super exciting. Except for the tres leches cake last night for dessert. Yummy!!
This morning we left the hotel at 8:30 to go to Tintoreras Islet, an island formed by lava pushed up above the surface of the water by tectonic movement. The islet is the major breeding ground in this area for the marine iguana, and right now is the mating season, so it was absolutely crawling with iguanas. One of the first iguanas we saw was perched up on a rock like it was doing a push-up. It was so still and almost posed for our cameras. I guess either the animals are just used to people or they just aren’t that worried about us. We also got to see a few Galapagos penguins (which are the second smallest species of penguin, by the way) and sea lions. There is also a canal on the islet that is a great resting area for white tipped sharks, so we saw several of them asleep in the bottom of this shallow canal.
After walking around on the island for a little while, the boat took us out a little bit to snorkel again. There were tons of fish again and a bright purple starfish. We even saw a sea turtle, which I swam with (or near, I suppose) for a good five minutes. It was so graceful, and all of its flippers were so effective. I mean, I’m a pretty good swimmer, but you could tell which one of us was adapted to living in the water.
We decided that we’d had enough of Tintoreras, so we went back to Concha de Perla again to see if we could see anything else there. It was mostly the same animals and fish as yesterday, lots of damsel fish with their yellow lipstick. Simon got to see another turtle and got some underwater photos of it (very cool). Snorkeling is becoming one of my favorite activities because it involves the chill-ness of swimming, meaning no noise or business, with a bit of social interaction. We were all swimming closely together and pointing out the cool things that we were seeing. But it was still so quiet and relaxed. That also might have something to do with our group. Even though we come from three different countries and cultures, we have become friends very quickly. Also, everyone is so very interested in seeing everything that we can in this wonderful place. Maria and José and Katy and Simon really have been wonderful to travel with and have made this experience all the more special.
Anyway, we returned back to the hotel about 12:30pm for lunch and a rest before going back out to see more of Isabela. I was thinking about taking a nap, but the six of us ended up hanging out at the lunch table talking about history and politics until it was almost time to go.
This afternoon, we went to the giant turtoise breeding center here on Isabela Island. Because of the introduction of cats, rats, and dogs, there are a lot more predators for baby turtles here than before. Primarily, the center focuses on breeding and protecting new turtles. Their lives are extremely dangerous until about age 5 when their shells are hard enough to protect them from some of the predators. There are also many adults in the center (for breeding, obviously), but the national park service is working on restoring the wild populations. After the breeding center, we went further into the national park and ended up seeing three wild giant tortousies near the road!
Part of Isabela Island was used as a penal colony from 1946 to 1959, and one of the projects of the prisoners was to build a giant wall from lava rocks around their encampment. Even after a year of work, the wall was only a quarter finished, but they stopped work. Our guide told us that some of the rocks weighed up to 100 kilos (220 pounds) and that the prisoners had to carry them on bare shoulders because they did not have any other means of carrying them. Also, at the beginning, they were able to find the rocks nearby, but as time went on, they had to go farther and farther to find the stones. Apparently it was a brutal project simply designed to work the prisoners to death. And now it is an important reminder of the not so glamorous history of the Galapagos.
On the way back to town, we decided to walk along the beach in the national park area because it was so beautiful and pristine. Along the walk, we came upon an injured shark that had washed up on the beach. Simon was brave enough to pick it up and take it back into the ocean. Unfortunately, it had been out of the water so long that it was very disoriented when it got back into the water. It eventually started swimming away in the right direction, but we can only hope that it makes it.
We finished our walk back to the hotel in time to relax a little before dinner. At dinner it was very interesting because Maria and José ended up talking a lot to the French couple sitting near us. Besides the fact that Maria and José know so many languages (and feel comfortable using them when they are needed), it is interesting how many people from random places are here. Besides the several Brits we have met, there have been several people from France and even people from the Czech Republic. I suppose that Galapagos has the same appeal the world over.
Tomorrow we have to wake up early to go back to Santa Cruz Island (another heinous boat ride), but we’ll get to spend another day with our group before they head back to mainland Ecuador. Slocomb and I will be going to Floreana Island that day to do some more snorkeling. Our trip is already half-way done. We have seen so much already, but the time has really flown!