Cruise Day 2

After being awaken many times by fairly intense rocking in the middle of the night, and getting very little sleep we were awaken by our morning breakfast bell. The usual routine on the boat was a wake-up call around 7 (every "call" was the ringing of a bell. Summer camp for grown ups) We missed the wake-up call but heard the breakfast call at 7:30. Around 8:30 or 9:00 we leave in our little pang boats and go on our morning hike. By 10:45 - 11:00 we are back on the boat and getting ready to go on our morning snorkeling adventure. Then by 12:00 or 1:00 we are back from snorkeling and have lunch. Then around 2:45 we go out for an afternoon snorkeling trip (never in the same place) and are back on board by 3:30 - 4:00 for our afternoon hike. By the time we get back from the afternoon hike it is almost 6:00 and dinner is getting ready. We eat and then sit around and chat until we decide its time to go to bed and start all over again. It seemed as if we were always busy.

So thats the usual schedule. Today however, we woke up late, had brakfast and went on a hike to North Seymour Island. We walked all over the island and saw a bunch of animals. We saw marine and land iguanas, frigate birds, sea lions and blue-footed boobies. It was so much fun! Especially because many of the birds were nesting and we could seem the mating dance of the boobies(HILARIOUS) abd some eggs and even little chicks. I think we have some good pictures. I learned a lot about the animals and the land. (Very exciting stuff for a life science buff!!!) I could not believe how close we could get to some of the animals. It was so incredibly hard not to touch them! I love to touch them! But I managed not to.

Next was our snorkeling adventure. I hate sharks. Super scared of sharks and was really debating not going. However, I was peer-pressured into it and the crew made fun of me saying that Galapagos sharks are all vegetarian. So i gave in and got all my equipment. My mask and snorkel, flippers and wet-suit. I look pretty good in all that equipment. It was great visibility and we saw tons of different colored fish, starfish and little sea creatures. No shark sightings so it was a good day. We snorkeled from the panga (our little boat) I was affraid that if I got out and in the water, I wouldn´t be able to climb my big butt back into the boat, however, I was able to manage, it didn't look pretty.

We went back on board and had lunch, then a had a little down time and went on a hike to Las Bachas. We saw a whopping one flamingo and then went snorkeling from the beach. I was not a big fan of this snorkeling trip because the water was merky and you couldn't see much. I don`t like not seeing what`s in front of me and decided that I would get out. There was also a really strong current and it just didn`t feel right. Once we got back to our hboat and got showered the crew was having fun and jumping off the boat. They tried to get me to jump off the boat. First, I had just gotten all of the salt water off of me and had no desire to take another shower. Second, I am not jumping off a 5 story boat into the middle of the ocean. They got Carlos and Jean Carlos to jump off the 4th story, I watched.

Then at dinner we talked for hours and sat around. it was a lot of fun. I could call it a great day.

01/26/08