January 12 – Galapagos Day 3

January 12, 2017 – Galapagos Day 3

Jan. 11 pix have been posted.   Just added January 12.
The bus picked us up at 8am to take us to the same port as yesterday. Juan, our guide for the day, rode along with us. The yacht for today was much nicer than yesterday. We left port around 9:30am and got to Isla Plaza at 11am. They said people who felt that they couldn’t walk for an hour to an hour and half could, optionally, take a tour from the zodiac. Four people in our group opted for the zodiac tour. Eleven of us decided to do hiking. At the dock two sea lions were laying on the walkway and had to be shooed away. Once we were all past that spot they went back to blocking the path. There were many baby sea lions in tidal pools with the adults patrolling to protect the babies. As we started up the path we noticed iguanas hanging out under the trees. We learned that iguanas eat cactus for moisture.There were also cactus Swifts that eat the cactus. There was beautiful red ground cover which Juan said is portulaca. We hiked up to the edge of a cliff where we finally saw a blue-footed boobie. (to my friend Timo ,please no boobie jokes) We saw many birds flying but only a few were cooperative enough to land so we could photograph them. As we headed back the path became hard to walk on. Lots of volcanic rock pieces. I suggest anyone doing this tour in the future bring trekking poles.
After getting back to the boat, we had lunch and the boat was moved to a snorkeling area near where we will disembark. About a third of group went swimming or snorkeling.
After returning to port, we boarded the bus to head back to the hotel.
Tomorrow will be a long day of travel back to the ship. We expect to get to the ship at 10pm. I won’t blog tomorrow but will attempt to upload the pictures from yesterday and today.