15 Mar

Day 3 – The First Encounters with Wildlife

 

And so it begins.  The zodiacs were out!

We ordered a hot breakfast to the room (all included), and then went down to the lounge for our first excursion!

When they called our group, we got our snorkeling gear and loaded into our zodiac with a naturalist.

Whenever we got off the zodiacs, we either had wet or dry landings, and they told us which it would be when we chose them. This was a wet landing which meant we got off the zodiac right into the water. There was always someone there to help us on and off.

We pulled up and could already see sea-lions!!

The other thing they did when they told us about the next day, was undersold what we would see. It was always – well IF we are lucky we may see this. Or this. Or whatever it was near there. So we weren’t expecting the number of things we saw!

Look at this. I mean, I could have gotten on the plane right then and been happy. Can you even?!

We were told to stay 6 feet back from all wildlife, and they always let us know where we could walk and where we couldn’t. The wildlife had absolutely no fear of us! And it was awesome.

We started walking.

We kept seeing more and more wildlife as we walked!

It just got better and better!

Except for this snake…

Moving on!

We used our new backpacks!

Sup?

So many crabs!

The wildlife was tucked away everywhere.

We were standing on a rock and looked down, and realized those weren’t rocks!

Oh. They were all over! Sometimes they blended in, but once you saw them, you couldn’t not see them!

Here’s a bit of the hiking:

We walked back to the beach for snorkeling.

Looking back –

Looking down –

We put on our wetsuits and got in. The water was – refreshing.

We did get used to it pretty quickly, thank goodness!

I was really missing my GoPro in the water! My phone in a water case did a poor job.

After we got out, I noticed our friends still in the water:

After we were out and mostly dry, we went back to the ship.

There was an easy process onboard to clean our gear and get our shoes clean so we didn’t bring anything back unintentionally.

We went back to the room to shower, and then we went and had lunch up top!

Stephen’s:

Mine:

We had a beautiful lunch view!

Then we had a little nap in the room.

Next it was time for our second excursion of the day! We could see outside our room they were getting the kayaks ready. We chose hiking.

We realized there were dolphins playing around the zodiacs!

We went down to the lounge and waited for our zodiac to be called.

Stephen didn’t feel like he had brought the right shoes and declared he was not a fan of the wet landing.

Ha!

But we made it!

Look at that beautiful ship!

We saw the kayakers!

We hiked and sometimes it felt like we were the only people in the world. We went over one hill, and ta-da! Flamingos!!

We hiked up a big hill.

This little guy was watching us:

Well, that’s a familiar shape!

My favorite pictures are when I could get two forms of wildlife in the same picture!

Then we boarded the zodiac and headed back to the ship.

Here’s a phone pic of one of the zodiacs leaving:

Back onboard!

The chef was there welcoming us back with chicken wings and chips! Well, okay!

We went to the room, then down to the lounge for a wine and cheese reception. Or Shirley Temple, Coke Zero, and cheese reception in our case!

Here we did a Q and A with some of the crew. Then they told us about the next day’s activity options and we signed up!

We went to dinner next.

Dessert!

Then it was time for bed!

Gallivanting in the Galapagos – October 1-10, 2022
Day 1 – Off to Quito 
Day 2 – I May Love Small Ships 
Day 3 – The First Encounters with Wildlife 
Day 4 – Penguins and Turtles and Birds, Oh My!
Day 5 – Lava and Bad Choices 
Day 6 – Glamping in the Galapagos 
Day 7 – Civilization! 
Day 8 – Tortoises are the Grandest of Finales!