Tag: pelicans

Galapagos: Day 3

April 29. Wakeup call is 7:20am with breakfast at 7:40. I’m getting quite used to the fresh fruit for breakfast: watermelon, pineapple and papaya, not to mention a variety of other selections including pancakes, rolls, yogurt, granola, eggs and sausage.

At 8:30 we climb into the pangas for a ride to the beach. We’re going to the Post Office. This is not your ordinary post office. In 1793 James Colnett, a British sea captain put up a barrel. The idea was that lonely sailors could deposit mail here and passersby would pick up mail they could deliver at their convenience. No postage required.

We dropped off three postcards and picked up three postcards we could deliver. One card with an address in Benicia caught my attention. I have a good friend in Benicia, and I thought this would be a good excuse to get together. So, once we’re back home I send my friend Dan an email saying I have a piece of mail from the Galapagos Post Office to deliver to somebody in Benica. Dan writes back and asks if it is addressed to Jane. Sure enough! Jane is his granddaughter and Dan had deposited the card on a recent trip to the Galapagos. What a funny coincidence.

Our panga ride included traveling along the shoreline to watch for wildlife.

Pelicans, sea lions, crabs, blue footed boobies and iguanas. I was also intrigued by the cactus which looked half Saguaro and half prickly pear, the Galapagos prickly pear.

At 10:30 we were back in the water snorkeling. We were hoping to find turtles, but we did not have much luck.

After lunch the ship weighed anchor and we made way for Isla Isabela. More photos for the day are available in an online gallery.

Whale on Brooks Island

May 31. Five of us launched our kayaks from the beach at Ferry Point for a paddle around Brooks Island. We were on the water at 10 a.m. after a quick safety talk and radio check. Our course took us from the beach to the end of the jetty at the end of the Richmond Shipping Channel. The plan was to negotiate the exposed leg of the paddle early before the wind and associated waves started to build. Once we were out of the shipping channel, we followed the jetty heading southeast. We were amazed by how much sea grass we encountered. Perhaps my previous experience was with higher tides and rougher water when the seagrass wasn’t so evident.

About halfway along the jetty we found a dead whale. This was cause to take photos, but to do so I had to ask one of my paddling buddies to open my back hatch get out my spare parts kit with spare batteries for my camera. My camera battery went dead shortly after launching. The island is off limits due to nesting birds, so we stayed in our boats.

With the whale well documented we continued on. Pelicans were quite plentiful, wheeling overhead and diving for fish. One pelican dove just a few feet away from my boat giving me the opportunity to capture a few photos at close range.

The water was starting to get a bit bouncy as we approached the southeast corner of the island, but nothing of concern. We landed at Barbara and Jay Vincent Park on the little beach facing the bay. The beach was a bit rocky with the low tide. After lunch we were back in our boats facing a stiff wind coming from the southwest. We decided to paddle straight into the wind which would place us on the leeward side of the jetty, hoping the jetty would provide us some protection. We battled the wind and the whitecaps and eventually found some relief.

Along the way we encountered the Brooks Island caretaker with what looked to be a load of recycling. He advised us not to land on the island due to the birds that were nesting. He also told us that one could land on designated areas from September through March when the birds are not nesting. We reported the dead whale, and continued on our journey. We were back on the beach where we had launched at 1:30 p.m. having logged 6.7 miles. You can view more photos in an online gallery.