Tammy Trip Reports | Day 4 – Penguins and Turtles and Birds, Oh My!

20 Mar

Posted at 07:05h in Uncategorized by Tammy 2 Comments

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Day 4 – Penguins and Turtles and Birds, Oh My!

We woke up at 7 again! We did choose the later departure time, but didn’t sleep in anyway.

Today was the day we “may” see penguins! “If we were lucky”! Well penguins were Stephen’s number one animal to see, so we were hoping for luck!

We showered and sent our first batch of laundry off. Laundry was included, and we could do it as many times as we wanted to before Thursday night. We did it three times I think? And it was so great! We went through clothes so quickly!

We went down to the restaurant to try the buffet today. The wall in the back lifted up when it was a buffet! So smart!

We walked around a little after breakfast.

Then it was time to load the zodiacs!

On our trip over to the penguin and turtle area, there was a lot of water spray! We all got a little wet. I highly recommend a hat that ties, so it will stay on when you’re going fast on the zodiac.

The first thing we saw were Blue Footed Boobies! So many of them!

They were amazing.

Oh my goodness, there was a penguin swimming next to us!

And another one!

And more!

The Blue Footed Boobies were dive-bombing all around us, and it was pretty cool. I tended to catch a picture of their splash, not them!

Penguins. On. Rocks. Like they were posing. I could die.

We then had to say goodbye to the penguins, and went back into the groves.

Turtle!

And more turtles!

Ooh, and a ray!

Here’s a little video:

That was absolutely amazing. That one excursion alone was above all our expectations for the trip.

When we got back, the chef had tiny sandwiches waiting for us! I LOVE tiny sandwiches!

And someone was playing a pan flute! This was the luxury I am here for.

We went to the room for a little while, and then to the Italian buffet lunch.

Some of my favorite words. Italian buffet lunch.

Then we walked around up top for a little while.

Turtle!

Next we went to a lecture about the Galapagos. We were first again!

Then got ready for our first deep water snorkel.

They told us the first night that to deep water snorkel you should be a good swimmer and not need a life vest. I was a little worried about that! I’m a decent swimmer, and I’ve snorkeled without a vest before, but man it’s tiring! I wasn’t sure I had all of my energy back from my surgery yet. But we realized the first day that our wetsuits had some natural buoyancy! That really helped!

Look! A swimming iguana right next to us!

We got off the zodiacs right into the water, and whoa. That was take your breath away cold. Here’s a video of the process:

Okay, breathe. We can do this. We did!

We swam with iguanas and sea-lions! It was so cool! Someone else saw penguins, but I missed them. Totally swam with them though. Technically speaking.

After 45 minutes or so, we made our way back to the zodiac and to the ship. This time the chef had hot chocolate for us! Spiked or unspiked! How did this chef know exactly what would make me happy?

We did a quick change for the afternoon excursion. Which included 152 stairs! I was concerned about this as well. Stephen assured me I could do it, but I fully planned to use my surgery as an excuse if I didn’t make it all the way up! Ha!

Spoiler alert – I made it!

Pulling in:

Um, that volcano is smoking? Is that supposed to happen?

A hawk was perched on the stairs to take us back down. We all waited.

He relocated and we passed.

Back on the zodiac!

Today when we got back, the chef had nachos. He was quickly becoming my favorite person onboard.

We took quick showers and went down to the lounge for the next day’s activity sign-ups and lecture. Then it was time for dinner!

One of our friends was celebrating an anniversary, but the ship had the wrong message and they sang happy birthday to her. We got quite a kick out of that!