South Plaza
On our last full day we were at South Plaza on a mooring
buoy when we had our 0730 wakeup. At
0900 we had a dry landing and walk, seeing a cactus forest, land iguanas, red
billed tropic birds, swallow tail gulls and a bachelor sea lion colony. Returning to the landing site we saw several
large bull sharks cruising along the shore looking for stray sea lions to feed
on.
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Cactus Foreston South Plaza |
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Swallowtail Gulls on South Plaza |
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Red Billed Tropicbird |
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Swallowtail Gull |
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Bull Shark cruising next to shore and sea lion |
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More cactus forest on South Plaza |
North Seymour Island
Heading back north to North Seymour Island we tied off to a
mooring buoy and headed into shore for a dry landing to look for the
Magnificent and Great Frigate Birds, which nest on this island. The Frigate Birds mate all year long and we
were able to see the inflated neck pouches of the male birds. We also saw more Boobies and Iguanas. By the time we returned to the landing site,
the wind and chop came up as we were leaving, making the return to the boat
exciting. Since the buoy was on a lee
shore, the captain elected to leave and find some calm water for the farewell
dinner. We finally anchored near Baltra. At 2100 we were underway once again, this
time in heavy seas all the way back to Wreck Bay on San Cristobal Island where
we anchored at 0600.
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Male Frigate Bird |
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Putting on a show for the females |
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Baby Frigate Bird |
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Booby Chick |
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Juvenile Frigate Bird |
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Another Blue Footed Booby |
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Female Frigate Bird with chick |
Final Morning in Galapagos Islands
Disembarkation took place at 0800, followed by a visit to
the Galapagos Interpretive center, a walk around the town, and then the few
blocks to the airport for the flight on Aerogal back to Quito. We covered 385 nautical miles during the
trip, landing on four major islands and several minor islands. The only major wildlife we missed on the
Southern Itinerary was the Flightless Cormorant, which is only found on the
Northern Itinerary. Due to a change in park
regulations, we were also not allowed to land on Isabela Island and see the
crater at the Negra volcano, but not a great loss compared to our own Mt. St.
Helens. The wildlife is heavily oriented
to birds and reptiles, along with the sea lions, and the islands are more arid
than we ever imagined.
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Our suitcases heading for shore |
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Sea Lions on the main street on San Cristobal |
We had an uneventful flight back to Quito and were met at
the airport by the travel company, which took us back to the Patio Andaluz
Hotel in the historic district.