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No longer a Pollywog
Sep. 8th, 2007 05:50 pm02 Sept 2007
S 00 32 30
W 90 11 16
Alt 6’
1430 Local
Call me shellback, as I am crusty with the salt of waters south of the equator (I crossed the line just before we landed in Quito, but no dunking took place).
We landed at Baltra, bought postcards while we waited for our bus, were collected with the rest of the passengers of the “Amigo” were assigned our cabins, had a small snack, and went to see a mangrove swamp.
I have seen the Blue Footed Booby. I, in fact, have been shat on by a blue footed booby. In the air they are not in the least graceless, nor do they look cute. They are, in fact, sleek, swift and (so far as can be told) ruthless hunters of small fish. While we were snorkling this morning (after our stroll on N.Seymour, where we saw nesting boobies, frigate birds and sea lions, as well as non-nesting oyster catchers, brown/pacific pelicans, yellow warblers, marine iguanas, cactus finches and lava lizards; I now know where the pelicans, sea lions and oyster catchers, [as well as egrets and Great Blue Herons] go when they disappear from their usual haunts in Calif.) Alan had one plunge into the water right in front of him. I too had that pleasure, though I wasn’t submerged and saw but a blur, and a splash.
I did get stung by a couple of jellyfish. Never saw them. The bit on my inner elbow was trivial. The bit across my lip, and down both sides of my neck less so, but still nothing to leave the water for.
The Marble Ray was impressive, but not so much as the schools of wrasse, trumpet and parrot fish, as well as a troop of halfbeak fish. The parrot fish could be seen from the island, it looked as a huge drifting piece of seaweed, until the intentional nature of the movement became apparent.
Most wonderful (there being a dearth of penguins) was the sea lion. He was gadding about in the vicinity of lots of people. There being much splashing I headed that direction. (as there was no shouting/screaming, and we were assured the sharks in the area don’t care for the taste of tourist). He decided the loud people were not enough fun to hang out with and headed straight to me, looked me in the face, and shot to the bottom (about 15 feet down, which is about the most I could manage to descend before the pressure, combined with salt water and a ½ wet suit combining to render me actually bouyant, prevented me from going any further down no matter how energetically I churned my fins).
But I did do some diving, where the parrot fish gave me room; but didn’t flee, the puffer fish ignored me, and the schools of smaller fish told me when a booby was attacking. Whenever one hit the water (too far away for me to see) they would turn tail, as one, and shoot to the bottom.
The water is blue, fairly clear, and chill, running about 12° C. Without the wet suit there is no way I could have stayed in more than 15 minutes. As it was we were out for about an hour; before the turning tide, and the jellyfish it brought with it, caused Ivan (our guide) to call us all back to the skiff, and thence to the boat, and lunch.
This afternoon we will make a landing at S. Plazas (so far I’ve been on Baltra, and N. Seymour, as well as the skiff/panga excursion to Black Turtle Cove on Santa Cruz).
There are two more swimming expeditions on the schedule, and I’m not sure, how many landfalls. Snorkeling reminds me of how much I want to scuba dive again. There’s something indescribable about being able to breathe, with the weightless world of the underwater in front of one. When the current, and the wave are in accord the merely flick of one’s fins, or stroke of the arms and one is in motion, as though the ideation were the deed.
Snorkel is nice, but there are limits. One can’t move to the bottom and rest; hell, because of the need to breathe one can’t afford the weight to be able to get to the bottom, much less stay there. Maybe if I were to carry a large rock....
Comparing this to Quito... the air is rich. When the plane pressurised the cabin to 8,000 feet Maia’s water bottle dimpled, because it actually added pressure to the air. Grabbing all my gear (camera bag, 25 lbs, tripod bag, 11 lbs, computer bag 20 lbs [Which was shocking, I know the laptop; because of the 17” screen is heavy, but the brick, mouse and; oh yeah, my books didn’t strike me as that much] and checked bag [clothes, some band-aids and my pocket-knife]18 lbs) was as nothing to heft, and carry.
The boat isn’t as nice as the hotel, for one thing our bed is underwater. We could have taken the upper berth, but the lower is both larger (slightlY), and easier to enter(sort of), but it’s just fine. We have a private bath, with hot water for the shower from 1730-midnight (though the hot water is, so far, mere rumor), meals, drinks, and electricity. We make about 5kts from island to island, and the crew seems competent (though it seems the forward winch is balky, winning the anchor has, on all three occasions, required the used of a crowbar to get the chain to behave).
Landfall is coming, so I’ll put this to bed, and look to grabbing my hat, camera (I have been profligate with it, though I see I wanted some faster lenses) and widget; that I might be more profligate; and so repair to the weather deck, to await the panga to the shore.
S 00 32 30
W 90 11 16
Alt 6’
1430 Local
Call me shellback, as I am crusty with the salt of waters south of the equator (I crossed the line just before we landed in Quito, but no dunking took place).
We landed at Baltra, bought postcards while we waited for our bus, were collected with the rest of the passengers of the “Amigo” were assigned our cabins, had a small snack, and went to see a mangrove swamp.
I have seen the Blue Footed Booby. I, in fact, have been shat on by a blue footed booby. In the air they are not in the least graceless, nor do they look cute. They are, in fact, sleek, swift and (so far as can be told) ruthless hunters of small fish. While we were snorkling this morning (after our stroll on N.Seymour, where we saw nesting boobies, frigate birds and sea lions, as well as non-nesting oyster catchers, brown/pacific pelicans, yellow warblers, marine iguanas, cactus finches and lava lizards; I now know where the pelicans, sea lions and oyster catchers, [as well as egrets and Great Blue Herons] go when they disappear from their usual haunts in Calif.) Alan had one plunge into the water right in front of him. I too had that pleasure, though I wasn’t submerged and saw but a blur, and a splash.
I did get stung by a couple of jellyfish. Never saw them. The bit on my inner elbow was trivial. The bit across my lip, and down both sides of my neck less so, but still nothing to leave the water for.
The Marble Ray was impressive, but not so much as the schools of wrasse, trumpet and parrot fish, as well as a troop of halfbeak fish. The parrot fish could be seen from the island, it looked as a huge drifting piece of seaweed, until the intentional nature of the movement became apparent.
Most wonderful (there being a dearth of penguins) was the sea lion. He was gadding about in the vicinity of lots of people. There being much splashing I headed that direction. (as there was no shouting/screaming, and we were assured the sharks in the area don’t care for the taste of tourist). He decided the loud people were not enough fun to hang out with and headed straight to me, looked me in the face, and shot to the bottom (about 15 feet down, which is about the most I could manage to descend before the pressure, combined with salt water and a ½ wet suit combining to render me actually bouyant, prevented me from going any further down no matter how energetically I churned my fins).
But I did do some diving, where the parrot fish gave me room; but didn’t flee, the puffer fish ignored me, and the schools of smaller fish told me when a booby was attacking. Whenever one hit the water (too far away for me to see) they would turn tail, as one, and shoot to the bottom.
The water is blue, fairly clear, and chill, running about 12° C. Without the wet suit there is no way I could have stayed in more than 15 minutes. As it was we were out for about an hour; before the turning tide, and the jellyfish it brought with it, caused Ivan (our guide) to call us all back to the skiff, and thence to the boat, and lunch.
This afternoon we will make a landing at S. Plazas (so far I’ve been on Baltra, and N. Seymour, as well as the skiff/panga excursion to Black Turtle Cove on Santa Cruz).
There are two more swimming expeditions on the schedule, and I’m not sure, how many landfalls. Snorkeling reminds me of how much I want to scuba dive again. There’s something indescribable about being able to breathe, with the weightless world of the underwater in front of one. When the current, and the wave are in accord the merely flick of one’s fins, or stroke of the arms and one is in motion, as though the ideation were the deed.
Snorkel is nice, but there are limits. One can’t move to the bottom and rest; hell, because of the need to breathe one can’t afford the weight to be able to get to the bottom, much less stay there. Maybe if I were to carry a large rock....
Comparing this to Quito... the air is rich. When the plane pressurised the cabin to 8,000 feet Maia’s water bottle dimpled, because it actually added pressure to the air. Grabbing all my gear (camera bag, 25 lbs, tripod bag, 11 lbs, computer bag 20 lbs [Which was shocking, I know the laptop; because of the 17” screen is heavy, but the brick, mouse and; oh yeah, my books didn’t strike me as that much] and checked bag [clothes, some band-aids and my pocket-knife]18 lbs) was as nothing to heft, and carry.
The boat isn’t as nice as the hotel, for one thing our bed is underwater. We could have taken the upper berth, but the lower is both larger (slightlY), and easier to enter(sort of), but it’s just fine. We have a private bath, with hot water for the shower from 1730-midnight (though the hot water is, so far, mere rumor), meals, drinks, and electricity. We make about 5kts from island to island, and the crew seems competent (though it seems the forward winch is balky, winning the anchor has, on all three occasions, required the used of a crowbar to get the chain to behave).
Landfall is coming, so I’ll put this to bed, and look to grabbing my hat, camera (I have been profligate with it, though I see I wanted some faster lenses) and widget; that I might be more profligate; and so repair to the weather deck, to await the panga to the shore.
