Yolita II Cruise - Sun, 24 Mar - Part 1

Bon Voyage


i leave today on a 16 passenger yacht called Yolita II ... for 8 days ....   :)
there is no WiFi on board, so you won't be hearing from me for awhile ... or maybe i'll just 'sail into the sunset'  :)

i found this photo online ... they told me it was a First Class boat .. but this clearly states 'good mid-range'  .... hummmmmmmmmm  ....

i signed up for this Cruise with some hesitation.   8 days is the most time i've ever spent on a boat (pardon me ... Yacht)  .. by 5 days .... and ... it seems like a long time to be with 15 other 'tourists' .... what if i don't like any of them  :)     ...at least i don't think they will be 18-19yr olds  :(

we will be snorkeling and/or doing walking tours every day, and sailing to our next destination at night; so it really isn't 8 days on a boat.

I've loaded another map on my blog site showing the destinations.   if you click on the 'ship icon' you should get the date, name of location, and a short description that i found in some literature.    whether it's true, or if i'll actually see what they say, ... well ... you'll just have to wait for my blog when i get back .... and don't hold your breath.   i can't imagine how long it will take me to upload the photos from 8 days of multi-activities.

Please excuse the lines on the Google map ... that program does not work very well  ...more frustration    :(     ...it should be interactive ... zoom in, out, etc.

Here is the 'interactive' map ... if you zoom in, you will be able to locate the starting point, Baltra, which is just north of Santa Cruz Island ...



View Galapagos Cruise 2013 in a larger map

Here is the itinerary:
24 Mar    leave from Baltra Island - visit Las Bachas Beach
25 Mar    Genovesea Island  - Darwin Bay & El Barranco
26 Mar    Bartolome Island - Sullivan Bay
27 Mar    Isabela Island - Sierra Negro & Chico Volvanos &
        Wall of Tears .. both Land Tours
28 Mar    Elizabeth Bay & Urbina Bay
29 Mar    Tagus Cove & Espinoza Point
30 Mar    Espumilla Beach & Bucannero & Rabida
31 Mar    Daphne Island & Mosquera Beach
        return to Baltra Island

then i leave here on 2 April .... will be a very long day to get home ...
we better not have snow or ice or rain .... only warmth and sunshine   :)

thanks for all your support !
hugs to you all

Leaving Isabela - Sat, 23 Mar

Leaving Isabella


i woke up every hour last night worried that my alarm wouldn't go off :(    .....

got the taxi to the dock for my trip to Santa Cruz ..... sunrise over the dock area ....

sad to leave such a beautiful paradise .... it's such a small place ... i tried to get a photo to give you an idea of the size of it ... this is all there is .... you can see the church tower on the right which is in the 'town square' ... and you can just barely make out the last building on the left is pink   .... and that's all there is to Puerto Villamil ..... i love it ... and i'll miss it ...

the ride back to Santa Cruz was uneventful ... i've been very lucky on my boat rides between islands ... i've heard horror stories of how rough the seas can be, getting seasick, etc. .....

i did catch a glimpse of a large white shape flying out of the water way in the distance ... it was unmistakable ... it was either a Spotted Eagle Ray or a Manta Ray .... AWESOME!     ....i think it was a Manta Ray waving goodbye and asking me to come back   :)
...a borrowed photo from Natl Geographic ... this is what it looked like   ... honest !

arriving back in Santa Cruz was nice ... even though this is my least favorite of the islands ... it's nice to arrive in a familiar place, know where you're going, recognize people ....

i got a big smile from the guy at the desk at Lirio del Mar ... i have a nicer room this time ..... it is NOT an oven !   ....

i went to the Tour Operator where i signed up for my Cruise to make sure everything was still a 'go'  ... it is    :)


then i went to Sope Dive shop to say HI to my friend Kath that works there ... we've emailed back and forth a couple of times ... it was good to see her


went to El Giardine to get their famous waffle with ice cream ... why did i order that?     ... i don't really like waffles and ice cream ... it was much too heavy .... i would have been much happier with a double scoop of ice cream    :)     ...used their WiFi while i was there .... and realized i have a lot of 'blogging'  to do before i leave in the morning ...  :(


back to my room, ... the WiFi was working IN my room   ....yeahhhhhh !!!!   ... took a little nap while i uploaded some photos .... then got to work ...

last post to my blog ...

Manta & Lava Tunnel Tour - Fri, 22 Mar

My Manta Ray Quest

my alarm didn't go off ... i mis-read the clock, jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, etc., then finally realized i had another hour ... whew !       i arrived at 8:30 as instructed.   we got in the boat, and Fabian was our Guide, who spoke very good English   :)     ...there were only 7 of us on the boat, so it wasn't so crowded, it was nice.     and the Captain was Roberto, the guy i talked with last night at the Tour Company ...... so he knew what i wanted..... no guarantees, of course ...

nice smooth ride out there ... that's a good sign ... if it's too rough, you can't see the Mantas ...  we did see 40-50 of turtles ... either mating or just floating.    Fabian confirmed my thoughts about the exhausting activity involved in laying eggs .... he said that many of these turtles we see floating here, are females who have just laid eggs and are literally too exhausted to do anything but float   :(    .....

first stop was Union Rock .... with Blue and Nazca Bobbies ....

it is impossible to show you know just how HUGE the waves are out here ...  here is a photo of the rock, normally ....

this gives you some idea of the size of the waves that hit it ... only the top part of the rock visible ...

and the waves cascading off it ... incredible ! ....

after this rock ... is where you might see the Mantas ... both the Capt and the Guide were actively looking .....

then ... they saw the Manta Ray!!  .... only one ....  this is what you usually see, ... it's white 'wing-tips' just breaking the surface of the water ...... (unless you are lucky enough to see them jump/fly completely out of the water; i'll have to save that for another day) ....

i took a few photos from the boat ...

more thrilling than i thought ...

it was AWESOME ! ....

the Captain said i could get in the water with it ....  i quickly grabbed my mask, snorkel, camera ... the Capt said you better get your fins on if you want to keep up with it .... yes !    ..and in the water i went .....   couldn't find it at first ... they were in the boat yelling at me and pointing ....  i finally saw it ...   i didn't know it had white undersides ....

i took some video ... but it was a very quick encounter ...

before i knew it,  it was gone ... and i knew they were waiting for me in the boat, so i didn't want to continue any further ..... i was SO GRATEFUL !!!!!!!!

what is a Manta Ray anyway?    they are the same species as the Stingrays, Spotted Eagle Rays, and Golden CowRays, all of which i've seen ... but these are the largest ... a max of 22'  ... that's huge !   ... the 'scoop-like fins' are movable, which i didn't know, until i saw them for myself.   (i thought they were fixed in place)  ...  my photos aren't that good, so i borrowed this one from the internet   .....

we proceeded to run the waves to get into the Lava Tunnel area .... i am still amazed that they are able to navigate through those huge rollers.     you can see the waves still roaring on the horizon ...

but we were safely inside ....

this time, we got to walk around ON the lava tunnels ..... (i think that other trip i paid for was a major rip-off, we never got to got a walking tour!)    ...interesting topography ...  lava with cactus growing on it ....

the Guide took this photo .... still 'high' about seeing the Manta

 .... and the Captain took this one .... i'm a cactus ... :)

we saw 2 Blue Footed Boobie 'couples' ... they are known for their 'courting dance' ... but they weren't up to it today.   but they were making strange sounds .... ...

notice that they have different color feet .... the one is turquoise like the one i saw in Santa Cruz  ... the other blue ...

then we snorkeled the tunnels ... it was WAY more fun today, and we went through more and longer tunnels ... further evidence that we got ripped-off on Sunday.

we traveled to another area ... calmer .. and without the cactus ...

we watched lots of White Tipped Sharks for 20min ... video, but only this one photo  ... again, on Sunday, we briefly saw 2 sharks  :(

also saw several turtles ...

and this Chocolate Chip Cushion Sea Star ...

this was a MUCH better tour ... it does matter who you go with ... but the Tour Operator has different Captains ... so, you just never know until it's too late ....


not much of a sunset tonight, but i took this one out my bedroom window ....

i started to organize to pack (my still wet clothes), and ran some last minute errands.    while i was working on my blog, the Guide that i met on my first bike ride stopped by and asked me to join him for a 'farewell drink'  .... we had Coco Loco's ..... sugar cane rum in coconut water, .... in the coconut ...

need to get up at 4am tomorrow and head to Santa Cruz

i'm so happy, i saw a Manta Ray   :)

Thurs, 21 Mar

Three New 'Finds' Snorkeling


walked the beach again this morning,  .... this is Helmut's 'handy-work'  ... kindergarden ... cute   :)  ....

followed these turtle tracks .... 

and found where she dug out a place for her eggs right in with all these bushes !!!!!    ...what a job !    ...

.... tracks in and then out again .... i guess sometimes they do this to throw off any predators ... adding more work to the process ....

more tracks ... there were probably 6 places where it looks like a nest was at least started .... but i couldn't tell if any of them had eggs laid in them ...

one was a 'Turtle Angel'    :)   ...

you can see 2 attempts here ....

i love looking tall with long legs in the morning sunlight   :)  ....

the beach goes on forever ....

sand art ...

moved into my new room ... a corner room, with 2 sets of windows :)   ....

my view   ....

i talked to a tour company about maybe getting a boat to take me out to find the Manta Rays .... but that appears out of my price range  $250+   ;(

so i went snorkeling back to Perla ....  the tide seemed high, and it was pretty choppy and a lot of current, so it was a lot of work today.   

i saw this Spotted Porcupine Fish first thing ..... 1-2'

these ParrotFish are such a bright colorful eye-full when you spot one ....

i haven't seen a Pacific BurrFish in Isabella ..... they look a bit like my little BalloonFish, but are more blue and have spots on their fins ....

snorkeling over a sandy area, i spotted this crab ...

did you notice what is on the NW side of it ?????  ... a small Leopard Flounder ... i haven't seen one of these in The Galapagos ! .....

i'm afraid i scared the little crab and he buried himself in the sand .....  and the little Flounder stayed right by him for the longest time .... but the crab stayed buried ....

some of you might remember my Peacock Flounders that i saw in Roatan ....  they are masters of camouflage ....

plus, they have an interesting story.    when they are born, they look like any 'normal' fish ... with an eye on either side of their head .... shortly thereafter, one eye 'migrates' over to the other side next to the other eye ...  and they rotate and seem to look in all directions ....

they lay flat as a pancake on the surface.    they float over sand and rocks and change colors as they go ...

finally, the Flounder .... 'floundered'  (sorry, i couldn't help that) around by himself ... like he just lost his best friend   :)    .... i left him, so hopefully the crab would come back out ....

i snorkeled over to where i saw the Octopus, by the rocks and and the calmer waters.

i've seen a lot of Pencil Sea Urchins ... but these were particularly bright and colorful .... usually they are covered with moss or algae ...

their body looked like a deep purple velvet ....

then i saw this ....  it was about 6" in diameter ...

can't find it in any book ... it has to be some kind of Cushion Sea Star ... but it will take some research to find out what kind ...   i am truly hoping that a Guide on my Cruise will be knowledgeable about Marine life ....  such short stubby arms ...

most Sea Stars have 5 or 9 arms ... this one had many many ... around a very 'beefy' body ....

i haven't seen many 'pretty' shells here ... actually i haven't seen hardly any shells at all .... so this one really caught my eye ...

when i turned it over, it was so smooth and shiny .....

i moved out to deeper water again ... i've seen these 'things' before, but never so colorful .... they are Giant Sea Cucumbers ... well, i guess that's descriptive ...

another colony of the Pencil Sea Urchines .... along with a yellow- lipped, blue-eyed, YellowTail DamselFish ....  their tails are never all that yellow, but their lips always are ... i'm going to submit a suggestion to rename them  :)   ....

another favorite of mine .... i love the Sea Stars because they don't move :) ...

on the way back in, i chased that Porcupine Fish and another BurrFish around before calling it quits for the day ...

when i got home, i talked with Pablo, a guide, about my desire to see a Manta Ray ... i've been thinking about this since Sunday ... and today it became an obsession of mine ... i want to see one before i leave.    i will not have an opportunity to see this giant on the Cruise ship  ... the smaller boats here are right on the water and it's possible to get in and snorkel with them .... i want to do that!!!!    ...everyone i talk with has seen them ... i want to see them too .... whaaaaaaaaaaa   :(

my only option is paying for another Tunnels Tour .... which i wasn't even impressed with when i went on Sunday  :(    Pablo told me which Tour Operator to go to and explain to them that i don't care about the rest of the trip ... i just want to see Manta Rays.... so off i go .... of course, they don't speak any English.    after a few minutes William came to their rescue from somewhere.    he speaks 4 languages   :)   ... one of them English.    i explained my situation and desires to him.... he translated, and they understood.    so i signed up.    when i took the Tour on Sunday, 17 Mar, it was $60 ... on the 18th, the price changed to $85  !  ... i guess they felt sorry for me and charged me $70.     ...i now have $130 invested in this venture.   i prayed, again, for my little miracle.

sunset for today ...

worked on the continuingly-frustrating internet  :)

then walked the beach from 8-10pm .... saw no turtles   :(