dp - new adventures: Thurs, 28 Mar

West Side of Isabela Island - Part 1

-Elizabeth Bay - Flightless Cormorants, Penguins & Mangrove Cruise
-Urbina Bay - Snorkel with a New "Find"

this morning we woke up in Elizabeth Bay, still on the coast of Isabela Island, on the west side now ..... from here you can see 5 active volcanoes, all on the Island of Isabela: Fernandina, Cerra Azul, Sierra Negra, Alcedo, and Darwin .... but i couldn't really see them .... :(

map for today ... zoom and click away ...

you don't set foot on this part of the island ....
but we did take an 8am dingy cruise along the shore where we saw one little scruffy little Galapagos Penguin, who was shedding his feathers ... they molt 2x per year, (other penguins only molt 1x per/yr), it takes 2-5 wks to complete the process and they do not enter the water during this period because they would get cold with no feathers ... that means no eating .... glad i'm not a Penguin ! ....

you can see how small they are incomparison to the Blue Footed Boobie on the right, above it ..

we also got a look at our first Flightless Cormorant Birds ... here they are 'flightless', and have these scrawny excuses for wings ...

when they arrived here, they found that there was no food for them ... so they became proficient at swimming for their food, and eventually lost their ability to fly ...

proof that .... 'if you don't use it, you lose it' :(

the other dingy was looking and pointing at some ducks in the water ... i wondered what kind they were because we haven't seen any ducks out here ..... ha ... they were little penguins in the water ....

they do look just like large ducks ....

so cute ...

then we entered the calm waters around the Mangrove Maze. the guys turned off the motor and used a paddle to move quietly through the Mangrove Lagoon ...

we saw a few Golden CowRays slowly swimming around, ....they were cool, but not near as impressive was the ones at night around the dock in San Cristobal ....

i didn't have my underwater camera, but Hendrik hung over the side of the dingy for an underwater shot ....

and he let me borrow this photo .....thanks Hendrik ... very cool ! ....

we saw a couple more penguins swimming, a couple sea turtles, and a stingray ....

i was kind of frustrated because i was not in the dingy with Washington, so i couldn't hear him, plus couldn't see what they were pointing at :( .... wha wha whine ...

this would have really been a nice place to spend time in a kayak, just cruising around seeing what you could see ... but, not a chance ... you can ONLY get here on a Cruise ship ... most of these places you can only get to on a Cruise ship ...

***

we returned to the boat around 9:30 .... and cruised north to Urbina Bay while we ate lunch ...
our room was just behind this staircase, in the very front of the boat ...

we arrived at Urbina Bay ... also marked on the Google map above...

a lot of tours don't allow you to snorkel in this bay, because the water is choppy and often murky ... but Washington knew we all liked snorkeling. so, we went for a snorkel ... yeahhh :)

the water was rough and choppy, and cold (although i was comfortable in my wet suit). it was an interesting area. lots of Giant DamselFish, usually i've only seen them alone .....

and i saw a Bumphead DamselFish .....

we saw a lot of turtles eating the bright green algae that this area is famous for. but none of the turtles were very interested in hanging out with us, which is unusual ... we are, after all, a fun group ...

i did have a VERY interesting 'find' .... i'm calling it a Leopard Shark, only because it has 'leopard-like' markings ... but it's not in my Galapagos Marine book, and i don't find anything exactly like it on line ....