 |
| Rabida Island |
Our assigned time to visit Rabida Island was 8 a.m., so we
clambered onto our zodiacs at 7:30 and headed off to see this tiny volcanic
island. The Galapagos National Park sets
all itineraries for all 84 tourist boats plying these waters every year. These itineraries set specific times each
boat can visit the particular places it has been assigned. As a consequence, boats are crisscrossing the
entire archipelago each day rather than following a more logical course of
visiting islands in some kind of sequence.
This random pattern is the Park’s attempt (pretty successful one, too)
to keep tourists from inundating the small landing areas on each island. Some islands have only 1 or 2 landing sites;
others, up to 10, if they’re relatively large.
 |
| Rabida flamingos |
Like Floreanna, Rabida has a lagoon that is home to
flamingos. About 10 were there this
morning when we appeared. They were
busily combing the floor of the lagoon for food and paid no attention to us as
we snapped away with our cameras.
We walked to the top of the island—not very far—to get a
view of the islands in this area and the surf pounding the lava cliffs
below. This is not a breeding area for
the larger birds like the boobies or albatrosses (which always go to the same island to nest each year), but it is full of finches and mocking birds,
iguanas and lizards. The iguanas here
are also Marine Iguanas, but much smaller than the ones we saw on San
Cristobal. In their isolation, they have evolved into a sub-species of the Marine Iguana.
 |
| Rabida Marine Iguanas |
We snorkeled off the beach, moving easily along as the tide
went out. A bit more of a problem trying
to get back to the beach as the current was very strong. We are using shortie wet suits which provide
a lot of buoyancy and keep us warm in the 70 degree water. The fish are spectacular in all their
tropical color. Many are surprisingly
large while others are teeny and generally present in large numbers, perhaps
for their own protection from the larger fish.
One I particularly like is long, slender and silvery, almost
translucent, with eyes 1/3 of the way back along its body.
 |
| Chinese Hat Island |
In the afternoon, our boat moved to Chinese Hat Island,
which does, indeed, look like the hats many Chinese farmers wear in their
fields. Again, we didn’t see much bird
life, but always iguanas and crabs.
 |
| snorkeling bay at Chinese Hat island |
 |
| Lava Lizard, Rabida Island |
Before leaving, we snorkeled off the pangas in a beautiful
turquoise bay with brilliant white sand.
The water is so clear and the whiteness of the sand below enabled us to
see everything perfectly. There were
some tiny red fish about 1 ½ inches long, some gray sausages with black
spots—sea cucumbers—lolling on the sand probably 30 feet below, rainbow colored
fish, a shark, but no turtles today. I’m
guessing I saw 40 or 50 different species of fish.
The sea cucumber is a delicacy in China, so I have had to eat it several
times at banquets there. It is slimy and
tough to eat—much more enjoyable on the ocean floor.
 |
| Galapagos Penguins, Chinese Hat Island |
A real treat was seeing some of the Galapagos penguins, smaller than any we saw in Antarctica. They posed for us before leaping into the ocean in search of fish.
No comments:
Post a Comment