Jen and Rebecca Swim with Sea Lions, Sea Turtles, and Sharks--Oh My! (1-2-10)

R: Even though we went to sleep at about 8:30 last night, I again had an erratic night of sleep. The boat rocked severely on rough seas until we finally reached Floreana Island at around 1:00 in the morning, after which I think I must have slept better. We made our wet landing at 8:00 and headed out to get a look at the flamingos. We saw a whole herd of them (or I guess maybe you’d call it a flock?) We took a lot of photos from far away that will probably just look like specks, but later in the morning we managed to see them a bit closer up, including a hurried attempt of two of them mating. We also saw an abandoned flamingo egg. Did you know that flamingoes build a little hill to lay their eggs on? Or that they are pink because of all the shrimp they eat?

R (cont’d): We also continued along to a beach on the other side of the island where some sea turtles were sunning themselves on the beach. You could see a bunch of them a little further out in the clear water on their way into shore. The beach is a nesting area, so we also saw some turtle tracks up to dry sand where there were likely eggs. In addition to the mating flamingoes, we also saw two turtles mating. Must have been a good day for animal love…

Sea turtles on the beach (not mating in the photo, obviously)

J: We spent the rest of the morning snorkeling, which made me very happy. Our first bit of snorkeling was off of the beach at Punta Cormorant. I attempted to improve upon my underwater photography skills and think I succeeded, but to be honest, I got a little distracted by everything swimming around me to remember to take many pictures. I do remember a sea turtle, some Technicolor fish and really cool green ones that blended into the moss (and made it exceptionally hard to capture on camera). Once we were done at the beach, we headed off to Devil’s Crown - a swim not meant for the weak of heart or leg-a few of our group stayed behind as a result. The currents were pretty strong, so the first half of the swim was easy, but required a little extra muscle to make it around the corner. But once again, it was worth it as I saw many more brightly colored creatures - and a shark! Don’t worry, mom, it was several feet away and well out of camera range.

R: I was bummed to miss the shark. I was behind the group a little way, admiring the starfish--I may have even taken a decent picture of it, the starfish, that is, not the shark. Then I was a little panicked to be so far behind that I swum to catch up without looking around too much. But I was eventually rewarded with more and different starfish to admire as we went through the middle of the crown. My swimming skills were definitely tested and while I saw some neat fish, I can’t say I was too sad to get back on the pangas for the ride back to the boat. Although the snorkeling excursion did have the added bonus of getting us near some rocks with some adult blue-footed boobies which meant they actually had blue feet.

Juan called this the Mexican Chocolate Chip Starfish.

J: After lunch, we headed into Post Office Bay. it’s a working post office that started in the 1700s as a way for sailors to send letters home (the theory being that sailors would deliver each others’ letters), but is still in operation today. Upon arrival, we searched the mailbox (it kind of looked like an overgrown birdhouse to me) for any letters from our hometowns that we could deliver either by hand or US Postal Service. Alas, there were none addressed to Denver, but Rebecca found a couple headed to the Twin Cities area. Wonder if she’ll hand deliver them…. [R: as of 2/27, I've made no deliveries!]

R: I intend to. But Eden Prairie IS awfully far from Woodbury. We also posted a few of our own postcards, so if you’re one of the lucky recipients, let us know when you get them so we can see how long it took. We concluded our Floreana visit by watching our crew and the two college-aged guy passengers playing soccer. It was way too hot for me to be playing a sport, but they all seemed to be enjoying it. Then Juan told us the story of the German lady and her sex slaves who one populated the island. But then another German lady murdered them. The island has a bit of a sordid past and I think there’s a book about it that I intend to read when we return. I like reading about sordid history, after all. Back on the boat, we began an 11-hour trip to our next port by sitting on deck whale-watching. Well, that is if it’s still considered whale-watching if you don’t see any whales. More like whale-waiting and being disappointed.

J: It wasn’t for lack of trying, we had several eyes on the water, but the pesky whales did not want to cooperate. The first 3 hours of the trip weren’t too bad - definitely rocky - but with lots of distractions, so no one really got too sick. Once the sun went down and we came inside, the story changed. At least 4 of the passengers (Rebecca included) ate dinner at the crew table outside because their seasickness prevented them from being able to eat inside. Plus, a couple more just passed on dinner. In total, 11 of 15 passengers were not feeling well that night. But, Juan did his best to distract folks from their misery by telling funny stories from his 21 year guiding career. Plus, since I was one of the lucky 4, I got a free beer!

R: Hooray for a place where going to bed at 8:00 is acceptable, is all I’ve got to say.