The morning excursion was
described as an easy one-hour hike over sandy terrain, followed by snorkeling.
We each picked up snorkel gear – flippers, a mask and breathing tube - and put it in a
mesh bag for our use for the rest of the trip. We climbed into the two Zodiacs bound for Cerro Brujo beach on San Cristobal Island. 
Before going to the beach,
though, our Zodiac headed for an unusual rock formation known as “the
cathedral,” an inlet in the sheer cliff that funneled ocean water to a trio of
caves in the back. Occasionally a large wave would come in and cause foam and
spray to well up in the caves. We then backed out of the cathedral and headed for a
rock arch at the end of the headland that jutted into the sea. The far end of
the arch looked neither wide enough nor deep enough for our Zodiac to pass
through. However, our pilot timed the swell rolling in from the west, and the
swell carried us up and over the shallow, narrow end of the arch. After we
passed through the arch, I took a picture of Kicker Rock, visible through the
arch.
We passed perched pelicans and
marine iguanas on our way from the arch to the beach. At the beach we were
greeted by Sally Lightfoot crabs and sea lions. We walked down the beach past a
spot where marine iguanas were building nests. The iguanas were rather tame and
walked along side us, not three feet away, for a short distance. Abby and I
waded into a water for a swim and were soon joined by Beth. An 18-inch shark
quickly swam away when it saw us coming. We rode the incoming waves up and down
for a while and then walked back to our snorkeling gear at the beach where we
had landed. I tried snorkeling, but
found it odd to breathe with my face in the water, so I mostly swam. When I
came out of the water, a swarm of tan-colored biting flies descended on me and bit
my legs and back. They
seemed to prefer me over all others, and I was covered in
welts from fly bites by the time I got back to the ship.
During lunch the ship motored to
Pitt Point at the far end of San Cristobal Island from the airport. Abby stayed
on the boat while the rest of us went ashore for either a long or a short
hike. Beth and Mark opted for the short hike and stayed close to the beach,
while Sarah and I scaled the steep terrain of the long hike. Our guide, Lolli (Delores), led us to blue-footed boobies, in pairs and nesting on eggs laid on the ground. We also saw red-footed
boobies nesting in trees and a grey lizard with buff stripes down its back.
Lolli pointed out the rare, white-feathered red-footed booby. An iguana hid
from the sun under a rock overhang. Having seen everything we came to see, we
headed back to the ship, visible in the distance when we crested the cliff on
the way back.
Once aboard the Zodiac our guide
took us out to a rocky islet where we could see Nazca boobies nesting, along with
swallow-tailed gulls. I watched a couple of frigate birds chasing a sooty tern,
taking turns knocking it out of the air into the water. Sea lions basked on the
rocks and played in the surf.
Back on the ship, the Coral I,
supper was delayed, so Mark and I had time to watch the sunset at about 7:15.
At 7:30, complimentary eggnog was served, and we were greeted by the ship’s
captain in his white nautical uniform. We all introduced ourselves and went
into the dining room for supper.
No comments:
Post a Comment