Galapagos Part III (Days 5 and 6)

The Islands of Santa Cruz, Chinese Hat, and Floreana

Day 5: On Monday morning, we woke up early (6am!) because we had an early excursion to Bachas Beach on Santa Cruz Island. This was one of the most beautiful beaches we visited during our time in the Galapagos. We took a leisurely, barefoot hike along the water and ventured slightly inland to a small lagoon where we got to watch a flamingo methodically feeding. After sitting quietly for a few minutes to "enjoy the sounds of nature", we returned back to the ship to say goodbye to a bunch of our new friends whom we had been touring with for the past four days. Many of them booked the 4-day cruise, so they had to leave for the airport that morning. It was sad to see them go, but we were glad to have had such a fun group of people to tour with.

In the afternoon, we made our way to Chinese Hat, a very small island of the southern coast of Sangtiago, which, not surprisingly, resembles a chinese hat. We decided to snorkel there despite the cold water and rough seas. We saw a bunch of cool tropical fish so that was good, and we made it back to the boat in time for hot showers before dinner.

Day 6: The next day (Tuesday), we were back on Santa Cruz at a place called Dragon Hill. Surprisingly, this hill looked nothing like a dragon. The landscape was interesting but there wasn´t a huge abundance of wildlife to really captivate us (we had been spoiled by all the other amazing stops leading up to this one). We also met our new group of Cormorants (our tour group name) and instantly missed our old friends. Thankfully, things improved in the afternoon. After lunch, we cruised to Floreana and went on shore at Cormorant Point (a good omen, or so we hoped), where we were greeted by some loud sea lions as we disembarked. Some were more playful than others (as we would learn later), but they were almost all vocal. The "bull" sea lion (dominant male in the area) was especially loud, making sure that there was no doubt whose territory you were visiting.

We took a short hike to a large lagoon where we saw several flamingos and ducks. We continued on our hike to another amazing beach on the opposite side of the island and saw some sting rays, eagle rays, sea turtles, and even one shark! We headed back to Cormorant Point at the end of the day and it was on this hike that the most exciting event of the day occured. The group of German tourists was in front of us on the narrow path back to the beach. While we were checking out the other side of the island, an adult male sea lion had made his way up the path and sprawled himself completely across it, making it difficult to pass by.
The two old German women in the group (by "old", I mean 87) decided that this was a good time to take out the video camera, walk as close as possible to the sea lion, then start talking very loudly to each other. At first, the sea lion tried to tolerate them and just moaned a bit in their direction to hurry them along. Despite this behavior from the sea lion and their tour guide urging them to give the animals space, they continued to get even closer and agitate the sea lion. By this time, we were also getting agitated as we wanted to get to the beach so Chris could go snorkeling (too cold for Sue and Jen). So we walked far around the sea lion, giving him plenty of room, but at the same time, the old German woman took another step closer and this pushed the sea lion over the edge. He got up screaming, showed his teeth, and charged at her and us on the path. We bolted to the beach and got out of his way and the German woman somehow managed to escape off to the side. She laughed about this incident with her friend immediately afterwards which was really upsetting to see. After being on this trip for several days, that behavior was inexcuseable. We have been reminded on a daily basis about the unique environment in the Galapagos and how we are all really lucky to see it up close in person. Since the environment is so unique and fragile, it is essential to treat all life on the islands with respect. Thankfully, most of the people visiting the Galapagos aren´t as disrespectful as they were, but we can´t help but think how difficult it must be to find a balance between sharing what the islands have to offer with visitors while still protecting the delicate balance that exists here.

After we made it back to the beach, Chris did get to snorkel and he got some great pictures of sea lions and other marine life (check out the photos in the underwater section of the Galapagos posts). Hope you enjoy the photos from part III!

The original and best Cormorants!

A view of the Galapagos Legend from the coast of Santa Cruz.

We didn´t actually see this guy on this day, but we liked his pose and thought it would encourage more comments from Tom. Caption this photo!