Galapagos day 6 Plazas

The bus picked me up at 7:15 (they had the name Bobijox so I assumed that was me!)to take me to the dock where the airport is (a 45 min ride) then we got on the boat that would take us to Plazas.  It was the nicest boat I have been on and it was the smoothest ride!  My group had a French couple and a group of 4 Mexican women who were having the time of their lives laughing and enjoying the animals. Anonther group of German tourists were also on our boat and I felt bad for the guide.  They seemed to be very high maintenance and did not follow directions very well.  We had to be very careful with the tiger sharks here.

We went on the island and saw land iguanas.  He said when you see cacti with trunks it means there are land iguanas because the cacti grow tall to avoid the iguanas eating them.  The iguanas lay around under the cacti to wait for leaves to drop. 

We saw tons of sea lions playing.  The alpha male patrols to water constantly to keep the tiger sharks away so when the alpha males get tired, they get taken over by a new male.  Sea lions are different than seals in that they have external ears.  They also can “stand up” and “walk” with their front flippers and seals can’t. 

We had a delicious lunch of fish, rice, beans, and salad and then went to a place to swim.  I took a nap in the boat because the sun was actually out today and I had had too much of it.

The next day, I had a taxi take me to the dock (45 min), then took the boat, then the bus to the airport.  I arrived in Guayaquil around 4pm.  I got a cab to take me to the Courtyard marriot to pick up the suitcase I left there while I was in Galapagos.  They were so nice to keep it for free and they let me sit there a few hours to wait for my flight to Miami - they even paid for my cab ride to the airport!

I arrived in Miami on time, then sat on the plane to Chicago for nearly 2 hours for maintenance issues before they finally deplaned us.  We got on another plane 2 hours later and then had to wait for fuel and load counts.  They pilot kept apologizing profusely and gave us American Airlines CEO email. I was supposed to get to Chicago at 9am and take the bus to Bloomington, but I missed several busses.  I didn't get to O'hare until around 2:30.  Bri drove up and got me. It was Natalie's birthday so we all met dad and Ben at Advanti's for dinner. 

Galapagos day 4 Floreana

On Sunday I took a tour to Floreana.  Floreana is one of the more isolated islands in the Galapagos and has an interesting history.  Many articles and guides I read said it was a great place to visit – nice scenery, quiet, interesting history.  But many of the tour operators said it wasn’t worth going to etc.  It was about an hour and a half boat ride and the island was beautiful.

We hiked and our guide, Jorge, showed us plants and animals and told us the history of the island.  

These plants ditch their chlorophyll and turn red to conserve energy

There were some Norwegian and German settlers. One of the most famous spots on the island is the post office.  It was one of the first in the world.  Sailors would leave notes and if another sailor came by going that way would deliver it.  The tradition continues and tourists leave postcards and others pick them up if they are able to hand deliver them.  I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see it – it was on the other side of the island.  He said tourists often get upset with him because the tour operator didn’t clarify with them that we won’t see it on this tour. 

Post office Replica

Pirate caves

We went to a lovely little restaurant and had fish, rice, beans, and salad. We did get to see a white sand beach and people snorkeled but it was the same animals I saw yesterday and we had no wet suits today! So I stayed on the beach.  I could see sea lions on a beach nearby – they were birthing their babies so we weren’t allowed to go on the beach, but some of the babies were swimming in the water.  We saw tons of sea lions and marine iguanas sunning themselves and we could see sea turtles near the beach.  

White sand beaches - the far one has birthing sea lions

black sand beach

There were two women from Sao Paulo in our group.  One of them was delighted that I had lived in Sao Paulo and was interested in talking.  We did quite a bit of communicating with her tiny bit of English, my bit of Portuguese, and my Spanish (which Brazilians can understand to a point).  She would start a sentence and I’d help her finish it in English and I’d say stuff in Portuguese and she was refined it.  It was great opportunity to learn for both of us.

On the way back most everyone was dozing and I saw dolphins!!!  As soon as I made a sound the other foreigners crowded to the back to see them so I didn’t get any videos of them jumping.  The Ecuadorians looked annoyed that we woke them – they were like It’s just dolphins!! The ride back was even smoother than the ride there.