On the next morning, May 12th, the Islander was anchored off South Plaza, a small (30 acre) satellite islet of Santa Cruz.
Our first order of business was a pre-breakfast hike. South Plaza hosts a large number of sea lions, and several were monopolizing the small dock,
so we landed on a slab of rocky shore.
We split into three groups, each led by one of our naturalists. The first section of the walk was up the gradual incline to the island's spine, or horizon.
Land iguanas were easy to find.
At the top we discovered sheer cliffs and the swarms of birds that congregated there.
There were frigate birds,
swallow-tailed gulls,
and red-billed tropic birds. Our friend Rick was fascinated with the tropic birds, and kept firing away to catch the elusive great photograph. He succeeded.
More than once!
Hovering?
There were also blue-footed boobies and pelicans.
At the foot of the cliffs, other creatures abounded.
South Plaza is narrow. The low-growing succulent plants are bright green during the rainy season and turn color in the dry season.
The land iguanas eke out a living, munching on the succulents,
but their favorite treat is the flowers of the cacti. They will wait patiently underneath a cactus for a bloom to fall.
There is a cactus nursery, an effort to recover from the depredations of goats grazing here. Cacti would be eaten while still young, and soon only the older, taller, tougher cacti remained.
The goats were removed from South Plaza in 1961, but the cactus seedlings now need protection from the land iguanas until they grow tall enough to escape the lizards' reach. The basins collect water and direct it to the seedlings, and the screens protect against iguanas and any other herbivores. Or clumsy tourists.
In this picture you can see our three groups scattered across the islet (click on the image to enlarge).
On our return jaunt we were graced with an posing striated heron.
A yellow warbler was talking to us.
An uncommon treat near the end of the morning was the sighting of a hybrid iguana -- offspring of a marine iguana and a land iguana. Sadly, these hybrids are shunned by both sides of the family.
I was ready for breakfast when we returned to the ship. Afterwards it was time for swimming and diving off the ship. I didn't indulge -- maybe next time -- but did take some photos from the top deck. Here, everybody is awaiting the next diver.
A zodiac driver kept an eye out for tired swimmers. Note the heavy rope netting on the front and snout of the zodiac, protecting it during rocky landings.
The Islander's Video Chronicler, Eric, was recording the event.
Our friend Rick was diving incessantly, trying to perfect his classic technique.
Some chose to jump in straight as a nail.
And some preferred the cannonball.
Some splashes were awarded a score of 10 by the judges.
After a while the zodiac driver saw that it was OK to relax, but was still on call.
Later Rick spotted this frigate bird resting on one of the ship's antennas. It was a perch with a view.
Before lunch Dr. Carmen Claassens of Darwin Animal Doctors gave a presentation of their work providing veterinary care in the Galapagos. It's not an easy job.
In the afternoon, we'll visit the nearby island of Santa Fé for more snorkeling and hiking.
After today's first round of activities, our guides each took a group to El Trapiche, a working farm in the highlands of Santa Cruz island. The highest elevation of Santa Cruz is 2,835 ft or 865 meters.
This device crushes sugar cane and collects the juice.
Following the sugar cane theme, instead of chronological order of our visit, here is where the sugar cane is boiled down, just as with maple syrup.
Some of it ends up as yummy brown sugar, and some is fermented into "white lightning."
It's potent stuff, as the ignition test -- tossing a glassful onto a fire -- proves.
Another major product of the farm is coffee. After picking, the beans are separated from the berries surrounding them.
The beans are then pounded, and the husks discarded by threshing.
Then they are roasted.
One delicacy is a pinch of the brown cane sugar combined with a roasted bean, popped into the mouth.
El Trapiche also grows bananas -- not the mass produced Cavendish strain, either, but tasty bananas.
And there are free-range chickens. And chicks.
We all came together again for lunch at the Narwhal, also located in the highlands.
A barn owl was taking his daylight siesta above the bar.
Our next stop was the El Chato ranch, part of an ecological reserve. Visitors can hike in from a nearby village, but our buses delivered us there.
The tortoises are free to come and go, through the park and through private land, along migratory routes that can take them to the sea and back.
We wandered through the open areas of the reserve. Our groups quickly dispersed through the acreage.
Some tortoises hang out eating the foliage. Some love the mud.
Deep into the mud.
But these awkward looking creatures, who walk with their front feet turned almost 90° inward, can, when motivated, lurch up and turn on the afterburner. This video clip is five smaller clips stitched together from one session where Joan and I were the only ones observing this particular tortoise.
The opportunity came to walk through a short lava tube with one of the guides, in our case, Vanessa. First, we negotiated a wooden staircase down into the tube.
At the bottom it was an easy, flat walk. Darkness and, for me, not bumping my head were the only issues.
Vanessa gave us some explanations of the tube's geological origins and its discovery.
Then we climbed back up into the light.
There was time for more tortoise-watching. Sometimes they watched back, briefly because we weren't that interesting.
Back at the pavilion we could rest our feet, perhaps get a drink. Our friend Rick took this shot of Joan and me.
The pavilion had some exhibits, including a tortoise shell, in its two halves, that visitors could check out, as Rick is doing here.
After being driven down to the docks, but before boarding our zodiac, we asked permission to photograph Miguel Andagana, the cigarette man we had first met in the morning.
Then we were back aboard the Islander as the sun grew lower.
And lower.
We had a great dinner with Ros and Rick,
and were treated to a performance by musicians and dancers of EcoArt, engaged in a "rescue work" of traditional Andean culture. (Some of these photos are without flash, which I find intrusive.)
The musicians were in the background, of course. The gentleman with the guitar is one of the founders.
Galapagos theme skirts!
Towards the end the performers pulled members from the audience, including Joan, to the stage.
It made for a big celebration! Having two left feet, I didn't mind being left out. Perhaps it showed.
Tomorrow we'll visit South Plaza, a small islet off Santa Cruz, and Santa Fe island.
