Day 2 Galapogas

Today started early with a visit to Kicker's Boot - a rock island so named because it looks like a boot. This was, apparently, one of the first islands seen by Darwin since it is southeast. Zodiac's went out at 7AM - hah, not us. We sat on our balconies in our robes as the captain circled what is basically a really big rock. Talking to others who took the Zodiac ride, they didn't see anything we hadn't seen already.

Then, breakfast. Typical breakfast buffet foods. With the very small group, we aren't as worried about the buffet spread of germs as on a 2,000+ passenger ship. All meals are in the one small dining room with open seating.

Then, we visited San Cristobal. The town has a population of about 5,000 and is the governmental seat of the Galapogas. Here we visited a museum about the history of the islands. After the museum, we visited the town for souvenir shopping - all five blocks of it. Back to the ship for lunch and a nap - finally.

About 3PM we attended a lecture re the geological history of the Galapogas. We learned how the islands were formed. The trip leans heavily on learning about, seeing and respecting the wildlife and natural history of the islands.

At 4:15, we headed to Espanola. This island has no human population. But...there sure is wildlife. We came foot to foot, eyeball to eyeball with marine iguanas, lava lizards, sea lions, blue footed boobies, a Galapogas hawk, Galapogas doves, and Galapogas mockingbirds. We saw a few waved albatross and frigate birds from a distance.

It continues to amaze is that we are literally within feet, and sometimes inches, from the wildlife and they simply don't move or even pay attention to us. Without any question, this is the ultimate paradise for those wanting to see wildlife closeup.

Not much for tonight except dinner, hearing the talk about tomorrow's excursions and relaxing. From the schedule, it looks like we may have a chance for two excursions tomorrow. If this is what we can expect every day, we will really need every chance to rest and relax.

That's all for now.