Monday, December 31, 2018: Isabela Island, Elizabeth and Urbina Bays

Monday, December 31, 2018: Isabela Island, Elizabeth and Urbina Bays 

We awoke to the chirping of birds and Nadine’s wake up call.  Conditions were ideal for sleeping last night, and most of us really needed a good night’s sleep.  Elizabeth bay was calm and we were anchored near a small islet covered with a few leafless incense trees.

  

Sunrise over Elizabeth Bay on Isabela Island

We boarded the Zodiacs for a sunrise Zodiac ride into the mangrove lined Elizabeth Bay.   Our first stop was a rock in the bay where penguins were waking up for the day.  There were also a few pelicans, flightless cormorants and boobies sharing the space with a Galapagos sea lion pup. 

Galapagos Flightless Cormorant

Galapagos Flightless Cormorant

The bay was very shallow and the water was pretty clear, making it easy to see the bottom through polarized sun glasses.  We saw schools of many kinds of fish with Galapagos penguins gliding effortlessly underwater looking for their breakfasts. There were also many sea turtles, and a few stingrays.   

Galapagos Penguin

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron strutting its stuff

Roosting Pelican in Mangroves

Nadine took us into a side channel where they switched off the outboard motors and used oars to paddle us to a site where sea lions can haul themselves up out of the water to roost on fallen mangrove tree trunks.  Did you ever see a sea lion in a tree?  Well, we have  now.  There was a pup sleeping on one tree trunk hidden amongst the mangrove tree roots.  

There are mangrove trees here that reach 30-40 feet in height.  But we didn’t see any sea lions higher than just a few feet above the waterline. We saw some mating sea turtles, and schools of snapper.  Many fish come to this bay to lay their eggs among the shelter of the mangrove roots.  These, in turn, feed the penguins and other animals. 

Lava Heron

Lava Heron stretches its neck.

As we headed back out to the boat, we visited a small cove where two sea turtles were mating, while a third waited his turn with the female.  We then swung by the same rock that we went by initially, and found some blue footed boobies waiting for us. 

Blue Footed Booby

Blue Footed Booby

Breakfast was waiting for us back on the boat.  This morning featured huevos ranchero, plantain pancakes, bacon, ripe fresh melon and pineapple.   

Jack and Sharon took advantage of some of the downtime after breakfast to teach Ciara and Tom some of their swing dance moves.  Who said this cruise didn't come with dance lessons?  

When we returned to our cabins, we found yet another type of Galapagos penguins awaiting us- the Galapagos towel penguin.

The boat weighed anchor and then motored along the west side of Isabela island to Urbina bay.  The crew invited us to tour the bridge, which was spacious, well organized and very modern.  Mark B felt right at home behind the wheel.

As we motored north, several frigate birds decided to use our radar arch as a convenient perch, allowing for some up close photography and observation of their flight approaches to the radar arch.  

Frigate birds find our radar arch irresistible 

Lunch was vegetable soup, spaghetti, cauliflower and green beans. Breakfast and lunch buffets are pretty much all you can eat. Plenty of healthy veggies on this cruise.

Urbina bay was a grey sand beach made of a mixture of decomposed volcanic sand and coral sand.  It was flanked by rocky volcanic shores.  The Galaxy II set anchor outside the bay, and we prepared for our first wet landing and shallow snorkeling excursion.  This required packing for a fairly easy walking hike, but anticipating having to wade ashore from the Zodiacs.  We also had to pack our wet suits, masks and goggles in our mesh bags. 

The wet landing involved the Zodiacs approaching the beach in reverse, timing the approach with an incoming wave to get the transom and tilted up motor above a steep drop-off in the slope of the sandy beach.  Then with two boat handlers holding the stern tubes, passengers disembarked from the stern into the shallow water which was about knee deep.  We then lugged our gear up the beach just below the crest of the dune that made up the beach.  

Nadine explains the formation of the Galapagos Islands

Geology and plate tectonics on the beach at Urbina Bay

The beach sand was littered with shell fragments, and bones.  The source of the larger bones was evident at one end of the beach where a pilot whale skull lay.  Nadine pointed out holes in the sand along the beach that were ghost crab burrows.  Most of these were just above the tide line.  We never saw any of the elusive ghost crabs emerge from their burrows.  I guess that is why they are called ghost crabs.  You must have to be very patient and still for the crabs to emerge from their hidey holes. 

Pilot whale remains.

Just past the start of the National Park trail Nadine pointed out a scurrying land hermit crab. She explained that these seemingly harmless hermit crabs were a major predator of baby sea turtles as they emerged from the clutches buried in the sand.  

This timid looking hermit crab is a fierce and terrible baby sea turtle predator.

There seemed to be trails leading off the National Park trail into the underbrush, which were giant Galapagos land tortoise freeways. One of these near the early part of the trail lead to a small muddy hole, and just past this hole was a medium sized Galapagos tortoise who was backed into his little garage in the brush.  

We learned that wallows dug by these tortoises are often the sole source of fresh water that can be found on most of the Galapagos islands.  Who knew that land tortoises would be such industrious hydrologic engineers.  

We saw lava lizards scurrying in the underbrush along with other land hermit crabs and colorful Galapagos painted locust.  Some of these painted locust were mating, which made it easier to get a picture of them because when they are not mating, they are inclined to hop away whenever you got close by.  

Much of the underbrush was poisonous Manzanillo trees, which are like poison oak to mammals, but edible to the tortoises and iguanas.  The latex in the leaves and stems is so toxic that if you stand under one of these trees during a rain, the rain drops coming off the leaves can cause you to break out in a painful rash. 

Galapagos land iguana peeks out from poisonous Manzanillo underbrush.

There are also the white barked incense trees that look so spooky poking out of the bare lava at other sites, but here, they were budding out with bright green foliage at the ends of their slender white branches.  

Incense Tree is related to frankincense and myrrh. Just budding out at the beginning of the wet season.

Galapagos cotton plants also thrive in the underbrush.  These have a bright yellow flower that looks like a kind of hibiscus , but mature into tightly clutched knots yielding a tiny head of cotton, which finches and other birds use in their nests.  

Galapagos Cotton blossom with Galapagos carpenter bee- lead pollinator in the islands prefers yellow flowers.

We saw quite a variety of birds including Galapagos finches, flycatchers, mocking birds and even a Galapagos hawk.
  

Where's Waldo, the Galapagos Hawk?

We also saw large black Galapagos carpenter bees busy pollenating the various flowers which were predominantly yellow in color.

Galapagos finches

As we proceeded along the trail, we came across orange land iguanas, who initially tended to be tucked deep into the underbrush, but by the end of the trail, it became evident that these creatures are actually pretty common, but spread out in the underbrush.  

Lipstick on an Iguana?

Hubba, hubba, baby, nods this guy.

Each male seems to have a territory that is a few hundred yards in diameter.  We came across a clearing that had once hosted introduced cattle, but the lack of rain resulted in the failure of livestock operations.  There was very sparse grass in this clearing, and at the edge of the clearing was one land iguana, while another sat in the very center of the clearing.  Eventually, as with most other Galapagos creatures we have encountered, one was laying across the middle of the trail, forcing us to tip toe around his tail one at a time.  

We got another distant look at the Galapagos Hawk from the top of the dune at the beach where we landed.

The trail looped back to the beach, where we then struggled into our still damp wetsuits.  Doing this on the steep loose coarse sandy beach proved awkward and difficult, but we eventually managed it, despite adding a modicum of coarse sand to the insides of our wetsuits and fins. Once we managed to enter the surf, we eventually let the ocean free us of the sand, and we morphed into aquatic creatures again.  We snorkeled along one side of the beach which was an underwater lava wall, harboring a wide variety of fish including parrot fish, Mexican hog fish, wrasse, damselfish, king angel fish and even a large ray and a Galapagos bullhead or horn shark.  There were also plenty of sea turtles feeding on vegetation attached to the rocks, and large schools of surgeon fish, grunts, and sergeant major fish.

Feeding frenzy

Galapagos Bullhead or Peruvian Horn shark surrounded by sea cucumbers

Sergeant Major fish

Surgeon Fish

Tortuga!

Tom and Ciara swim with Squirt

Reboarding the Zodiacs was the reverse of the disembarkation procedure, but we remained in our wetsuits.  The boat motored to our next destination while we prepared for dinner and had our daily briefing. 

As we motored from Isabela Island to Punta Espinosa we witnessed some incredible aerobatics as a dozen frigate birds followed us and took turns claiming spots on the radar arch antennas.  There was a lot of squabbling mid-air between various rivals, with clacking of beaks and nipping of tail feathers. We witnessed how maneuverable these birds were in a tight formation, and eye level with us on the sundeck of the Galaxy II.  Many times, the birds flew within an arm’s reach.  We could even smell them, and that wasn’t pleasant.  

Frigate bird selfies!

Setting sun catches a Frigate birds wings.

Just ... Wow.

As sunset approached, the crew apparently dumped left-overs overboard.  The second this happened, all the birds disappeared as they dove on our wake to see what there might be to eat.

We dropped anchor at Punta Espinosa on the Northeast corner of Fernandina Island, the youngest of the Galapagos archipelago.  We descended to the briefing room for the evening’s briefing. We will do a dry landing in the morning followed by deep water snorkeling around a collapsed off shore caldera.  The boat will then motor to Punta Vincente Roca on the west side of Isabela for more deep water snorkeling and a Zodiac ride. After that, we will motor around the north end of Isabela Island, crossing the Equator twice before dropping anchor again on the northeast side of Isabela Island.

New Year’s Eve dinner featured a roasted turkey with “Stuffing” that looked and tasted like left-over spaghetti meat sauce mixed with gravy instead of tomato sauce.  

Terri had an omelet as her vegetarian substitute. There were also fried shrimp, which were a popular item, along with roasted potatoes, mushrooms with zucchini, potato salad and a cucumber salad.  Dessert was a carrot cake decorated with Feliz Años Nuevo! In the meringue frosting. 

We had passed out Jelly Belly Bean Boozle trick jelly beans for entertainment.  These contain a mixture of normal jelly beans and nasty surprise flavor beans that look exactly like the normal ones, but have flavors including barf, canned dog food, spoiled milk, tooth paste and grass clippings. It was fun to see how people reacted to the challenge of good vs bad.  Even the crew got to give this challenge a try, and their reactions were just as hysterical.  Then we passed around a round of Godiva chocolate to cleanse the pallets.  

Our New Years Eve party consisted of dice, card and domino games, one swing dance number featuring Jack and Sharon, and most of the parents retiring to their staterooms by 10:00PM, leaving John, Price, Ciara, Tom, Konrad and Riley playing a few rounds of Bang!  

The crew had their party below deck in the galley.  We gave them a selection of Ghirardelli chocolates for them to compare with Ecuadorian chocolate.  We didn’t get to see Squidward or his little female side-kick get torched.  I guess they will make it another year.  

Eventually, the crew came up to the main deck and exited onto the fantail, where the dancing began.  Tom was our international ambassador, who went out onto the fantail to join the crew with their clapping, foot stamping, singing and dancing.  Soon, everyone else joined them on the fantail.  

The real party is THIS WAY!

There was a lot of Spanish singing and what evolved into a dance challenge where everyone around the ring took turns busting a move for the group.  There were also a few rounds of musical chairs, and dancing with Squidward and his sidekick.  

Video of Squidward dancing with Riley

One of the crew members did a swing dance with Squidward’s female sidekick, but when they did the move where the woman is passed between the legs and brought back out again, her head flew completely off, skittering across the deck.  That was good for a hearty laugh.  After that, she could do the scene from Carrie, where her head rotates around a full 360 degrees.  

Video of Musical Chairs

There was beer rewarded for winning musical chairs and for joining the dance challenge.  All the ruckus brought out Jack and Sharon, who did a little swing dancing to Mexican music.

When midnight rolled around, the captain gave a count down, and as the last seconds approached, the crew peeled off their shirts and climbed on the railing on the fantail between the pontoons.  When they hit Zero, everyone yelled Happy New Years! Feliz Año Nuevo! and they leaped into the water, with the captain leading them off with a hand stand on the railing, and into the water. John, Price, Ciara, Tom and Konrad leapt in as well.


EcoGalaxy One Minute to 2019 Countdown


New Years Splash Down- Another Camera Angle

When the crew climbed out, they gave everybody a soaking wet hug to wish them Happy New Years, so everyone ended up wet.  Then they went into the water again with flips and cannon balls.  There was Ecuadorian Limbo dancing and the dancing continued for a while longer.

EcoGalaxy New Years Ecuadorian Limbo Dancing

Ben had to rummage through his iPhone iTunes music library to find a copy of the Beatles Twist and Shout for Jack and Sharon to do a real swing dance to.

Sharon managed to keep her head during the between the legs passes.  That pretty much concluded the evening as the crew gave them a standing ovation.