Sullivan Bay, Santiago and Rabida, Saturday 5 November

Photo by Lulu

I was still expecting the GoPro to be my main camera. I will announce when I have added the good stuff to this page. Fortunately Lulu got lots of footage.

The Galapagos trip ended up being a saga rather than a post. For links to the whole trip please go to the first Galapagos post.

Sullivan Bay and Santiago Island and Rabida Island, Saturday

Santiago is about as bleak as a hunk of rock can be. But still exhilarating. Here we started to see sea lions. And where we started snorkeling.

Rabida Island

Kay posted these photos

Rabida island is red. That is because the lava here has a high iron content. Iron turns red when it gets rusty.

Here we saw flamingos in a brine lake. You can see them in Kay's photos. Lulu told us about how the changing water levels and salinity made it possible, then impossible, then possible for these to be here.

Here is also where the GoPro started to get funky. I will write more on Rabida as I am able to access what ever media I am able to salvage.

I love the moon photo she managed to get.

You might have noticed the phrase "Wet Landing". This means the panga backs into where the water is about 8" deep. The driver sits inside, and the guide or other crew member stands in the water where we maneuver ourselves over the inflated side of the boat. This is not graceful. The side is a 20" inflated tube, damp or wet. I am not sure how the same piece of plastic can be both sticking to the skin and slippery at the same time.

As the boat is bobbing one jumps off into moving water that is trying to knock one down. I usually end up clinging to the guy standing in the water while he is trying to get the other passengers off. I managed to never once fall splash into the water, but never with grace.

This was not on Rabida Island.
But this story is about Sea Lions.

Here I had one of those weird adventures I seem to be prone to. One that I had to be told I had. The group split, one to go on a hike up the hill, and those that wanted to walk on the beach or do a bit of snorkeling. I chose snorkeling, of course. I had my usual guide fish. I swam along the cliff which is where most of the fishies hang out.

When I got to the shore Lulu and the other walkers were saying that it was so amazing, and did I see it? See what? It seems that there was a sea lion pacing me having a good look at what was going on.

And I never saw it.

That night we went north, crossing the Equator, and down the west side of Isabela island. The wind and the tide gave us a bit of a rough ride, but not too bad.

Comments

's-Hertogenbosch June 2024

I came to Den Bosch for the Bosch Parade. I don't think one can understand the parade without understanding the town, and vice versa. The experience deserves a post all of its own, so I will do this in two linked posts. This is not some of my best photography, but the experience was one that I wanted to share. As usual, I fight to make Blogger behave. Perhaps in the next few years we might make a meet up trip for Den Bosch and the parade. Contact me if you might be interested. First off, the name. 's-Hertogenbosch or Den Bosch. Just accept that how ever you say it you are gonna be wrong. The Dutch language, along with the Dutch mind set, is totally inexplicable and unexplainable, and totally charming. Like wise "Holland" or "Netherlands" is going to trip you up. Both words describe the same place, but have subtle differences that really don't matter much, except to those people that it does but don't worry yourself about it The town goes by ...

A Day in Stockholm

I spent a marvelous day in Stockholm in June 2024. I stayed two nights while on my way to Finland to go on the epic Svalbard expedition, but more on that in a future post. To me, getting there is half the fun, and these side trips are a major part of the fun. I have been taking a brief respite from posting. Illness and overwhelm, you know the story. But with a new summer of travel ahead, I must get back on the horse. This post is mostly a photo dump of my brief stay in Stockholm. I rate my visits in relation of would I go back or not. I do hope to go back and experience more of what this city has to offer. As usual, the computer has interesting ideas on how to change up my layout. Click any photo to see a larger version and have a slide show and skip what little verbiage I have added. I stayed in a Scandia Hotel. Think Marriott's or the Hilton in Swedish. A pretty standard high rise commercial hotel. And some times that is just what one needs. The breakfast...

Aberdyfi, Aberdovey, UK

So much is written about all of the big stuff around the UK, and yeah it is grand. But I think the one of the finest things one can do is to spend a couple of quiet days at a seaside town. This is a short piece about a day I spent at Aberdyfi. Aberdyfi is a very Welsh town tucked in at the mouth of the River Dyfi. There is not a lot of flash and fancy there, but everything there is such a perfect example of a great traditional village. One gets there by train on one of the loveliest route. Catch the train in Shrewsbury. Make sure to ask a conductor if you are in the right car as the train splits one part going north, the other south to Aberystwyth. (Note: you risk permanent damage to your tongue if you try to pronounce some of the towns on the way.) Or if you insist, drive in thru Machynlleth or down the coast. The main draw is the beach. The estuary is huge, and full of the estuary kind of the stuff one would hope to find. Boats, osprey, fish, water, mud. ...

Bad Knees Travel

Search This Blog