After getting breakfast, we gathered all of our items for a day at sea with rapidly changing weather. We had both shoes and slippers, rainjackets, bottles of water, and bathing suits. We marched down to the end of the dirt road from the Semilla Verde and were shortly picked up by a taxi carrying two other guests from Israel. After 25 minutes or so we arrived back at the dock where we were dropped off on the first day from the airport.
We waited for a spell at the docks while insects swarmed our legs. They didn’t seem to bite, but they were rather annoying. Finally our boat showed up, a sailboat with no sails. We had to take a small zodiac out to the slightly larger boat. The estimated time enroute to North Seymour island was about an hour, which seems like a lot if you were to look at a map. The boat goes quite slow, otherwise the distance could easily be covered in less than twenty minutes.
As we approached North Seymour, a formation of frigatebirds followed our boat. North Seymour is primarily bird-centric, with a few other creatures here and there. We hopped back into the zodiac to disembark onto the island. We essentially made a loop trail. The sun, once again, was very intense and felt hot on our skin. We both put on what we felt was an ample amount, but sunscreen seems to have zero effect in the Galapagos. It wasn’t long before we saw several more frigatebirds lounging in low brush.
This time of year is the mating season for them. The males are known for their bright red pouch under their beaks that they inflate like a big balloon when they are trying to entice a mate. They also spread their wings and make shrieking noises. Hot. I had seen pictures or video of these creatures and I always envisioned them to be much smaller — like something that could fit in a household birdcage. They are, in fact, quite large.
Fortunately, we also saw the blue-footed boobies, so Nicole can display her statuette on our shelf. We saw some of them doing some kind of mating ritual as well. Male and female both have blue feet in case you were curious. As we trudged along under the hot sun, we saw more frigatebirds, boobies, and an occasional land iguana.
After maybe 90 mins under the sun on North Seymour, we got back on the zodiac and went back to the sail-less sailboat. We were greeted with drinks and snacks. Some sort of fruity iced tea washed down fried plantains. We were then advised to prepare for a snorkel along the coast of the island. Nicole elected not to do it, so I ventured back out on the zodiac and a group of us were dumped off next to the rocky cliffs.
Based on how the water looked from above, I was hardly expecting to see many fish with any clarity, but the waters were surprisingly clear once I dropped off the side of the boat and underneath the surface. The sea life was as bountiful as the avian types on the island above.
I don’t know my types of fish that well, so I had to look them up for my niece. At numerous occasions whole schools of yellow surgeonfish were swimming right at me. Someone claimed to have seen a shark, but I think they’re a liar. We were in the water for perhaps an hour before returning to the sailboat with no wind in its sails. This gave the sun ample time to burn my entire back.
After our return, we all had lunch — fish and rice with some cooked vegetables. Nicole was underwhelmed. Shortly thereafter it began to rain—rather unpleasantly I might add. Everyone took shelter in the hold, where it was muggy and warm and smelled of fumes. Nicole and I would sometimes go half in half out to try and get the best of both worlds. It was very clear that we were sailing, or rather motoring straight toward a rainstorm, but tour companies have their itineraries, and they’ll be damned if they alter anything!
We had another planned stop at Bacchus Beach, but most of us elected not to go. The rain was still coming down quite hard, and our guide wasn’t selling the beach to us when he mentioned, “Watch out for the horseflies.” In the end, five people went, and the rest of us stayed on board the diesel-powered sailing machine. In theory, one could see flamingos at the beach, but I didn’t see any from a distance, and when the group finally returned, they confirmed that there were none to be found. If they had come back gloating, we already had a story ready to go that we saw an Orca breach right next to the boat and eat a sea lion. We didn’t need to use it.
We got back to the main dock after 4 and hopped in a taxi with the Israelis back to the Semilla Verde, where we tried to dry off some of our clothes. We heated up the remainder of our pizza in the microwave and began to work on our exit strategy with flights, hotels, and rapid PCR tests while using mediocre internet. Wish us luck.
passports & pepto bismol 