Year: 2003

We doubted Greg when he told us he would try to make each day better than the previous days, but today we learned that mere mortals should never doubt a god. The day started out at 6:00 AM on the green sands of Olivene Beach, was followed by flamingos and the soft sands of Flour Beach, and was further followed by some kayaking and snorkeling with a few sea lions and lots of fish. On the way back from this snorkel we spotted a small pod of orcas, and immediately Greg put on his snorkel gear, turned to us and said “This is one time where I won’t guarantee your safety”, and then promptly leapt into the water. Nearly everyone quickly followed our fearless leader, and for the next five minutes or so we were snorkeling with killer whales — at one point a big bull orca passed six feet under me, and they generally would appear from the depths within thirty feet of where I was swimming. The number of times where I went from amazement and wonder to a subtle terror (try swimming in open ocean with nothing in sight but knowing three killer whales just dove under you) were large in number. My brother saw one of the big whales coming towards him and literally leapt like a dolphin out of the water and into the boat, scaring the crap out of the panga driver. This is the fourth time in twenty years that Greg has been snorkeling with orcas, and he says this one was the best. Eventually the whales swam away when several pangas from a larger boat arrived, but it was definitely an experience that will be remembered forever.

The snorkel that followed at Devil’s Crown normally would have been one of the best of the trip, but it’s tough to top killer whales. Highlights of the snorkel included tons of reef fish, a shark or two, some amazing currents, and Aaron nearly braining himself by coming up too early after swimming through a cave. All of this activity took place prior to lunch — the afternoon’s event was a long hike through the hot sun up to the highlands of Floreana. The purpose of this hike, as we learned after embarking, was to see an endemic snail. Greg took a bit of crap for that, and even more crap when his blistering pace faltered and he started sucking air, but the hike was fun and the view from the top was great. It’s only been four days in the islands so far, but already it’s tough to remember what life was like before we arrived.

I seem to have passed my flu on to the Goob, which is not a good thing — he missed out on a snorkel today that included reef sharks, sea turtles, tons of fish, and eventually even another sea lion who was so curious that she played with JB and I for a good twenty minutes before following us up onto some rocks and sniffing at our flippers. Dr. Trey is suffering from sea sickness, which is also unfortunate — he’s definitely not doing well. And even JB is thinking he might be getting ill, so I’m hoping I didn’t infect the entire boat.

Illnesses withstanding, the trip is amazing. We all got up for a snorkel before breakfast that included rays, a few small sharks and tons of fish. We then moved to a new spot and swam through tunnels of silver fish — JB and I were herding them like sheep dogs and then charging through the middle. All of this was before 9:00 AM. We did a brief landing on a beach with sea lions before doing more snorkeling on Isla Tortuga — this was the previously-mentioned snorkel with the reef sharks, turtles and sea lion — and then motored over to one of the largest bird colonies in the islands. Walking through this rookery was one of my favorite experiences from the last trip since the birds are fearless, with some of them even nesting on the trail. The blue footed boobies were doing their dances, the Nazca boobies were out in force, and even some of the albatrosses were doing their beak fencing — watching their mating dance is like a Marx Brothers comedy as they look in all directions, duck their heads, open their beaks wide, and then bang their beaks together quickly, making a hollow thwacking sound. Greg has put together a heck of a trip, and I think everyone is loving it thus far.

Greg claims that there will be days better than this one, but a lot of the folks on the boat are skeptical. We got up at 5:00 AM to do a seven mile hike on San Cristobal to find giant tortoises. Forty-odd tortoises and three and a half miles later we started the return trip, but detoured part way to climb a volcanic cone that was awe-inspiring — even Greg was taking photos from the top.

Following the morning’s hike the main events began — first there was snorkeling at Kicker Rock with a sea turtle, tons of fish, and a few rays and sharks that I didn’t see. Afterwards we headed towards shore and jumped into the water with what seemed like every young sea lion in the world — these guys did everything from blowing bubbles in our faces to staring at us from inches away to balancing sand dollars on their noses. After being in the cool water for almost three hours I was cold as ice but completely unwilling to get out — had I not gotten the worst leg cramp of my life I might still be there playing with them now. Happy times indeed.

The trip has finally happened — three and a half years of planning, and finally everyone is here. Spent a ton of time talking to Greg today — the man is a god — and after getting situated we all headed off to South Plaza, which is a small island inhabited by about a thousand sea lions and a fair number of birds and land iguanas. Even though I remembered that the animals were fearless, it was still weird to have a bird calmly preening itself two feet away from me, or to see a land iguana crawling ponderously towards me over the rocks. I’m back.

We have arrived in Quito after some particularly turbulent air — I never knew Aaron was afraid of flying, and laughed like mad while he was grabbing the armrests as we were coming into Quito. Aaron, who has never been outside of the US and Canada, continued to amuse us after arriving as he pointed out every sight he saw — “Dude, you can drive AND drink beers here!” — “Oh man, green means go and red means go, too!” — “The security guy in front of the hotel has a 9mm strapped to his chest!” This trip promises to be a memorable one.