Day 5 – Tagus Cove and Punta Vicente Roca.
It was an early start for a 630am kayak around the bay – made even earlier by an out of zone iPad that woke us up at 520am. It was pitch black so we knew something was wrong. It was lovely paddling around the bay as the sun rose over the nearby volcanoes – crabs were the main attraction with the odd sea lion, turtle and dolphin.
After breakfast we did a dry landing on a local beach and climbed the hill overlooking Lake Darwin – an inland tidal lake that at low tide is a good 6ft above the ocean. Again we marvelled at the fearlessness of the local birds with a mockingbird literally jumping on us as we walked past. There was also a fair bit of graffiti from private boats that were allowed to visit the area up until 1992 – mostly just a carving or the painting of the name of the boat and the year it visited. The earliest we could find was 1836. Nowadays you have to use an official guide and hence private boats no longer visit.
Afterwards we set sail to Punta Vicente Roca on the north west coast of Isla Isabella. Again it was magic sitting out front of the boat seeing what aquatic life we could see. We were incredibly lucky this time as a couple of blue whales cruised alongside us for 5 minutes. We also saw a sunfish 20 minutes before arriving at our destination – they only come to the surface to warm up, spending most of their time in the depths (up to 2km down) eating jellyfish.
We moored below some impressive cliffs (part of a collapsing volcano) and went for a snorkel. While the visibility wasn’t great, the number of turtles were incredible. It was actually a bit scary having 6 or 7 of them in really close proximity floating around you. There was quite an impressive array of fish in the area as well. After lunch and our usual siesta everyone bar me went out for another snorkel. I stayed behind and read in the sun. After getting a bit hot I decided to go fro a swim and asked if I could dive off the bridge of the boat. I was given the OK and as I was about to dive in, 2 hammerhead sharks cruised by. The skipper told me they were friendly so I did my usual belly flop near them. While I felt confident they would not be interested in me, I didn’t waste time getting out of the water. The rest of the team came back excited about their snorkel with 3 sea lions.
Around 4.30 we got on our way for our long sail to Buccaneer’s Cove in Isla Santiago. We crossed the equator on the way and had a celebratory glass of champagne to mark the occasion. The sunset was amazing, as was the incredible view of so many of the volcanoes that make up Galapagos. It really is a very special place. Deryn was a bit nervous of the expected rough seas as we rounded the top of Isla Isabela so was in bed with sleeping tablets by 7.30pm. Sleep being the best way to avoid sea sickness.
Day 6 – Santiago Island – Bucaneer’s Cove and James Bay
We arrived at Bucanner’s Cove around 2am – while it was a reasonably bumpy journey it was more up and down rather than side to side so wasn’t too bad. It was the usual 7am breakfast followed by a kayak around the cove at 8am. The landscape was amazing with the layering of rock and larva giving testament to the many eruptions over the millennia, combined with sheer cliffs and rocks perilously balanced on top of each other. There were a few caves we could explore before the wind forced us back to the boat.
We then went for a snorkel, sooner than we normally would because another boat had arrived carrying 40 guests and we did not want to share the water with them. The water was much warmer which meant a lot more fish but very few turtles and marine iguanas. We returned to the cave that we had explored earlier in kayaks to be delighted with some sea lions frolicking amongst the multitude of fish. One of them eating a sea slug with teeth you wouldn’t want to be too close to and also a sting ray at the bottom of the cave. We spent a good hour in the water which was testament to its warmth.
It was then back to the boat for our 90 minute journey to James Bay, still on Santiago Island. Lunch consisted of a whole baked bass which was a bit too real for me. We had a quick turn around after lunch for our walk as again it was a matter of avoiding the other tourists. James Bay briefly had a salt mine until it became a national park so there was evidence of its previous inhabitants – one of the first time we have seen evidence of man on our trip. It was a lovely walk around the island in which we got to see some recently introduced Iguanas, Galapagos fur sea lions, a hawk, heron and some American oyster catchers. It was the hottest weather we had encounter since we had been in the Galapagos so we jumped at the chance to swim along the beach and then the 400m back to the boat. We had our snorkels but no flippers so it was a fair bit of exercise although the swim along the beach was easy because of all the sea life, not so heading out to the boat as it was deep water. Franklin boated alongside us, as he said, to scare away the sharks. I reckon he was messing with us.
We then headed off on our 7 hour sail to our next destination so it was back to our favourite spot out the back of the boat to lay in the sun and read and/or kip. This really is the life.
And finally an image shared by our mate Rob Prugue, which sums up Twowisenomads.
