Galapagos Day 7

For the first time this trip, we woke up to a cloudy morning that was still with us after 8am, until now, any cloud has burned away by that stage of the day. We had travelled overnight to Santiago Island and found ourselves in Pirate Cove for breakfast.  This was the haunt of several famous pirates over the years, Richard Hawkins, Sir Francis Drake, and Alexander Selkirk.  The first thing on the day’s agenda (after breakfast, of course, was to kayak across the bay and back.  The wind picked up on the way back which made the process a bit wetter and more technically challenging, but more fun too.

The kayaking was followed in short order by a panga trip along the cliffs, where we saw swallow tailed gulls and the Galapagos Hawk amongst others.  The end destination was Bishop Rock and Elephant Rock, two much photographed landmarks, that needless to say I am choosing not to blip.

No sooner had we returned to the yacht than it was time for the morning’s snorkelling trip.  The sea was a bit colder today, and the strong swell meant that we needed to stay away from the cliffs, but we were rewarded with rays and a white tipped shark.

After lunch (which I probably ate too much of), we had an hour or so of down time while the boat upped anchor and sailed to Bartolome Islet and Pinnacle Rock Bay.  This was a very harsh volcanic landscape where there was very little growing.  But we did see some painted locusts and had another sighting of the elusive Galapagos Hawk.

Back in the pangas, we headed for the Pinnacle Rock itself, to see the Galapagos Penguins, probably for the last time this trip.  As it probably is the last time they had to be today’s blip.  In the extras are: a painted locust, a swallow tailed gull and a fur seal.