Day 6 Galapagos (morning): Santiago Island

Diane: Everybody but Calliope decided to take a walk up to view an old salt mine.






We walked over some gorgeous examples of ropey lava (and others) just beyond the landing site.

In the 1930’s, a group of people attempted to live on Santiago. One couple even wrote a book about it, which helped increase international interest in the Galapagos. Due to this original human habitation, Santiago has a serious feral goat problem. We saw evidence of the National Park’s eradication program.

Janet and her mother, Aileen, were also in our small group. Neither the walk nor the salt mine was that interesting, but the company was good. Janet and Aileen were great at spotting lava lizards and little birds, many of which were endemic to the Galapagos. However, overall, we spent more energy joking around with each other than listening to our guide, William.

Janet’s theory held that as a result of us not paying much attention to him, our guide got fed up with us and let Tom, my Mom, and my Dad get separated and sort of lost. My normal theory, that my Dad always gets separated from the group, did not hold, because he was still in a group, although smaller. My Mom thought it was simply poor guiding without malice, since our guide did go back to the fork in the path to look for them.

Whatever the cause, we waited for our lost party to return near some great looking rocks and sea lions.

My Mom, my Dad, and Tom opted to go back to the ship after their “adventure”. Janet, Aileen, TM, and I hopped off the panga at the snorkeling beach. María del Carmen spotted us and offered to guide us to see some fur sea lions (fur seals) up close. We were so fortunate for her generosity! Fur seals are not as common as the Galapagos sea lions due to the fact that they were severely hunted. For the same reason, they are also much more timid around humans.

We passed stunning sunning marine iguanas as well as above-water and submerged lava bridges.

Snorkeling is not allowed here, probably because incoming waves can make the water swoosh up very high within the rock pools. One example of this effect is at a spot called Darwin’s toilet. Think about it.

We ran out of time before we had a chance to beg to swim here or to even snorkel at the beach. But, we did get to see fur seals up close and personal. They are smaller than the Galapagos sea lions, have more fur, little ears that stick out, and they are even better rock climbers. They are also afraid of people, as a result of being hunted for many years.

TM: So, a little info about the family life on the trip from yours truly. Having my Grandparents on board was a blast, and seeing them for a whole week was a treat that I wont soon forget. I learned to play bridge... or started to, at least. Ace was kind enough to take me under his wind and recriut partners for me to play with. Having Grandbird and Ace around all the time reminded me a little of home, and how great it is that we live so close to each other. I think that my family all ended up competing for their attention, and they spent a good amount of time with all of us. I know I got a lot of pictures taken with each of them, and so did the rest of my family. We were all very sad to see them go... and I can't wait to see them again!