Day 2 - Galapagos Islands

Exactly one month ago today – we awoke to our first sunrise aboard ship among the Galapagos Islands. The top deck was partially covered for shade. There were tables and chairs, a bar, lounge chairs and even a couple of hammocks. Not too many people were up for sunrise. Can’t figure that one out because the sun usually found at least the three of us eager and waiting. Some mornings the ship’s masseuse offered stretching exercise on the top deck. No matter if she was there or not, Clair was - doing her yoga stretches and just getting in to all round good shape for the day. But even before the stretches there was fruit, breads, coffee, tea and juices out for the early risers. Ymmm, good!

Today brought the option of a pre-breakfast hike. 399 steps to an altitude of 359 ft. and a 360 view. The steps were built to avoid erosion among the fragile volcanic tuff. Back to the ship by way of the Zodiacs. Back to a full breakfast of so many choices.

After breakfast it was back to the zodiacs, back to the beach. This was to be my first experience in snorkeling. We needed to buddy up with someone. I knew that Clair and Jerry were able to keep up with each other and I didn’t want to hold them back. There was another guy there who asked if I wanted to buddy up with him. God Bless Warren. He was great. Hadn’t snorkeled much. Challenged me but didn’t push me beyond my limits. I guess we were in the water for almost an hour. We saw flounder, octopus, so many different kinds of fish, penguins, reef shark, rays, some coral, turtles, iguanas. What a world opened up to us. Silent and mysterious. Subdued yet overpowering. Occasionally I would forget what I was doing and turn my head to look at something taking in a mouth full of ocean water by way of the snorkeling tube. Even that was okay. After all, that too was a new experience.

Whenever we’d come back from a hike or excursion there would be cookies, tarts, brownies, juice and/or hot chocolate waiting for us.

Most off ship activities took place before noon or later in the day in order to avoid the sun. The majority of our time there was overcast. A true blessing. Still you needed to be careful not to expose yourself to too much sun. The temps were hot but not unbearable. The broad rim sun hats were defiantly in order along with a light weight long sleeve shirt.

There was another nature walk before dinner. The evening was spent listening to one of the naturalists talk about taking pictures of nature. Each evening there was a recap of the day and a preview of tomorrow.