Sea Turtles and a Penguin - Isla Floreana

Today's 8am start seemed much more reasonable as I set out to see Isla Floreana, the island of Giant tortoises & sea turtles. 

We boarded a much smaller vessel, in the harbour just down the street from my hostel, that claimed to have a capacity of 16 (according to the sign painted on the boat - which I think is nautical law to do) and was clearly over capacity by five, but on a side note the life jackets looked new. Once again the ride was about 2hrs but with two huge engines gunning it the entire time! Serious distance to cross to the south to arrive on Isla Floreana.

 As seems the custom, we started with a 90min walk around the island,  (above are some photos of what the landscape is like and a carving made by original settlers.) visiting an area where 40 Giant tortoises from eleven species roam their days. I shouldn't make light of that since they live a terribly long time (over 100years) and sadly in the past 40 years none have had any babies so it is a real concern. These are the largest Giant tortoises in the world and have become this large thanks to a lack or predators and an abundance of food. Good to know this would happen to the best of us and at least for these guys it is revered - don't we normally think obesity will shorten a life span? Moving on... ohhhh soooo slooooowwwwlllyyy :)

I did manage to witness an attempt at continuing the gene pool. Giant tortoise sex is possibly the most unsexy thing you can imagine. This poor little female with her head tucked into her shell just seems to wait it out as a huge male climbs up onto her back and gives a thrust every 5 full seconds. Count that out... five ...full... seconds... between each move... jaysus talk about lack of rhythm) This is accompanied with the sound of shell on shell grinding and a low growl/grunt from the male. No wonder the females are taking a pass. I could barely WATCH.  

Moving on to the beach. I asked where the sea turtles are said to hang out and took off on my own to meet them. I want to think I am working a lucky streak here as I came across a lone sea turtle riding the underwater currents, as he (I'm guessing here) nibbled on seaweed, within minutes of getting in the water. However, I am probably better to recognise the abundance of wildlife in the Galapagos and instead just be thankful that I could spend 30mins following this guy, letting the current toss us around together without any other people on the scene. I think this will have to be one of the most magical experiences of my life. Watching this meter wide (again I am guessing) turtle roll around with the whim of the current, I came close enough to touching him (which I did... couldn't resist) and at times had to work to avoid coming on top of him as he swam at me without any concerns or fears.

I think we were definitely pals for that 30min span and then I just had to bring the others into the loop.

There was an American family on the trip. Nico 9 and Kylie 7. It was as close as I could get to sharing the magic with you Kate, Ozzie, Calvin and Max so I did my best to get them as close as possible. Someday I hope you four get to live this kind of moment.  Of course there were tons of brilliantly coloured fish but I mostly devoted my hour to the sea turtle.


Here's a photo I got from someone else on the tour who had an underwater camera. Lucky you!

We made a second stop jumping off the boat in a little lagoon and this is where I not only met my second sea turtle but came face to face with a little Galapagos penguin standing on the rocks a few feet from me who later jumped in and swam over to where I was checking out the fish. A little annoyed that I didn't actually see the penguin swimming by me but the fact that the others swam over to ask me if I had seen it under the water was enough to make me beam.

Obviously day two is categorized as incredible! 

Tomorrow I will stay ashore and walk over to Tortuga Bay on my own steam and check out the Darwin Research Center before I climb aboard my cruise Tuesday. 

Livin the dream. Hope you are all happy and healthy! 
xox
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