Friday night and early Saturday morning we cruised in a south easterly direction past Seymore & Baltra Island to The Plaza’s which are a pair of islets situated off the east coast of Santa Cruz Island. Only South Plaza is a visitor’s site. See map: http://www.ecuadorexplorer.com/html/galapagos_interactive_map.html

Saturday was the ‘last’ whole day for the group that started their cruise on the previous Sunday. They would be leaving on Sunday after an early morning excursion.

As usual there was music over the intercom to wake us up at 0630h. If that did not do it, then Liz’s “Good morning everyone, another beautiful day …………………… “.

The agenda was posted. We had a full day booked at the Plaza’s & Santa Fe.

South Plaza was a memorable tour as we saw a variety of flora and fauna.

We had a dry landing on a natural dock and were greeted by sea lions. There were a couple of marine iguanas lying strategically on the park monument. They were motionless the whole time we were there, we wondered if they were ‘planted there’ to greet us. We learned that this ‘frozen’ behaviour is common to these reptiles. They blend in very well with the lava rocks and it did not take long to get used to them. The marine iguana is a very strong diver and will dive to depths of 35 feet. Their blunt snout is used for eating algae off the rocks.

A few feet away were the Swallow-tailed gulls. They have a brilliant red ring around their eyes. They adapted to their environment by becoming nocturnal feeders. In order to survive, they developed extraordinary night vision to hunt for surface fish and squid (this way they avoid having the Frigatebirds steal their food).

The luminescent microorganisms and tour boats also light up the ocean's surface at night. The surface fish and squid in turn adapted to feeding on the surface at night so they could be protected in deep waters during the day.
You'll notice that the adult gull has a white mark on its bill. That's from the juvenile tapping on its bill when it wanted to be fed. The juvenile in the photos cried incessantly while the adult snoozed. It was a relief to walk away from him!

The land iguanas showed no fear of us as we walked amongst them. They were molting and dragging layers of skin as they searched for food.

We learned that they were ‘vegetarians’ and had that reaffirmed when 3 of them rushed to eat the yellow flower that was falling from the Prickly Pear cactus.

However; while our guide sprinted ahead, some of us stayed behind and watched a land iguana stalk an jured Petrel.

In a split second he pounced on it, trapped its wings and devoured the bird right before our eyes!!

The satisfied look & perpetual smile will forever be embedded in my brain!

Our guide was as shocked as we were, but suggested that land iguanas were also opportunistic.

The flora of the island was stunning. We were visiting during the ‘rainy’ season and learned that during July to December, everything would brown and dry. Note the length of the trunks on the Prickly Pear Cacti ….. the pads are ~ 5 feet from the ground. This is another example of the adaptation theory as the giant tortoises and iguanas would stand on their hind legs to reach the pads.

We walked along the sea cliffs and were amazed by the variety of birds that we saw. The shearwaters and red-billed tropic birds were making quite the noise as they were locating their homes that were in the crevices of the cliffs.

The polished rocks in the photos demonstrate how the sea lions have worn them down to a marble appearance and texture. We learned about the rocks absorbing fat over the years.

We had ~ a 2 hour navigation to Santa Fe and this journey will be imprinted in my brain forever. I was mesmerized by the male and female Magnificent Frigatebirds that followed us during that time.

There was a female who sat on the boat approximately 5 feet away from me and literally posed for most of the journey.

Needless to say I got a few gigabytes worth of photos and have pared them down to a favourite few.

It was amazing to see the birds drop back and swoop down to catch surface fish. We learned that these birds cannot dive for fish. They have insufficient oil production to preen their feathers and make them waterproof. Thus they must steal from other birds or dip their (long) hooked bills in the water to catch surface fish.

Santa Fe is located between Puerto Ayora (on Santa Cruz) and San Cristobel Island. We arrived there just before lunch and were looking forward to snorkeling in deep water off the dinghy. Liz had given in to our whining about wanting more snorkel hours and gave us an extra half hour in the water. The snorkeling was quite good as we saw sharks, sea turtles, rays (manta, sting), sea lions (the pups were very curious and came right up to you / swam under your feet). It was an amazing experience to have a huge sea turtle approach and linger while looking you straight in the eye.!

After our snorkel, there were some awfully sad faces when Liz said “give me your snorkeling gear, you won’t be needing this anymore”. I remember dreading that day and wishing I could put the brakes on and slow the passage of time but that did not happen, and in a flash it was over. Consider every moment you spend on this tour as 'precious'.. because it will be over quicker than an eye can blink.

Later we had an ‘easy hike’, climbing the side of a cliff over large boulders in our flip-flops. In spite of having to watch our feet, it was a memorable hike and we saw a lot of interesting sights and smelled a lot of seal poo.

We were amazed at the Galapagos hawk that stood there and let us take his photo. We were no more than 5 feet away from him and he was clearing unafraid.

The crew had a farewell party for our shipmates who were leaving in the morning. We were sorry to see them go as we enjoyed their company.

I’ve included some photos of the dining room; it’s the only part of the boat that I took photos of! That being said, the food was quite good … ¾’s of the plate filled with veggies and we never went hungry.

Even though I loved every moment at sea, our visit to South Plaza was one of my favorites!