We took a bus from the airport down to the port area.  We were given life vests and taught how to get on the Zodiacs. (They look like white water rafts, but with a motor.  You sit on the edge.)  I had a lovely conversation in Spanish with our driver, Miguel.  It was rough and he said he would go slow as to not splash us and I should watch for sea turtles.  I did not see any, but it was a good way to take my mind off the waves!  

We got on the ship in the marine level where you get ready for trips. As we walked up the stairs to the lobby area, we were greeted by many of the crew on the ship. We checked in and were shown to our cabins.  We only took a quick look around and saw on the schedule that we could get lunch at the Patio Cafe. We headed up there immediately.  The lunch was a buffet. 

The head waiter, Jose, showed me that they had gazpacho soup and when I said I couldn’t have peppers, he pointed me to the salad.  (I didn’t know he was the head waiter at the time.) He then said, Heidi? He already knew about my allergy because my husband put it on the preference sheet and he was ready!  That was really lovely.  

The lunch was good with a bunch of options.  I also enjoyed my iced tea and iced latte after lunch.  We then returned to the cabin and explored a bit. The bathroom is huge!  I started to unpack, but then realized we needed to be up in the Cove Lounge in ten minutes for a presentation!  (They keep you very busy!)

The presentation was mandatory and we were asked to bring our life vests with us.  The hotel manager, Alexa, gave us an overview of the whole ship, which was wonderful because we had not yet time to explore it.  We are sailing on the National Geographic Islander II.  It has five decks.  Then we watched a safety video and Alexa checked with the captain to see if we needed to abandon ship.  He said we did!  So we were split up and walked out to the life boats where they explained what would happen and reviewed what to do if someone went overboard.  It was very thorough. 

After the safety presentation, Socrates, the expedition leader (yes, that is his real name) gave us a brief overview of the expeditions we would be doing.  He doesn’t know until the night before what we will be doing the next day. It is assigned to us by the government.  Sometimes we can only go to a particular place for only so many hours or we are only allowed to kayak in certain areas.  It’s very interesting. 

Then he told us that we were going out in half an hour on the Zodiacs to explore the mangroves on the northern part of Santa Cruz Island. We went back to our cabins and I finished unpacking and we got ready to leave.  There was not a lot of time! I felt rushed.  

We were on a Zodiac with Tanya (the naturalist tour guide) and Horatio (the Zodiac driver).  The first thing we saw were blue footed boobies! They were so cool.  The pictures were not perfect because we took them into the sun. 

We also saw a bunch of pelicans.  This one was particularly judgy. 

We rode into a lagoon area where the water was very still.  We saw green turtles surfacing!

Then we saw something jump out of the water and Tanya said they were black tipped tiger sharks!  This was their nesting area so most of them were small.  Then we saw three swim by the Zodiac.  Another one jumped really close to the boat and the woman next to me was freaking out a little.  She said if it comes in this boat, I’m out.  Meanwhile, I was thinking, how could we get it back in the water fast?

We went through a mangrove tunnel and sat silently for a bit just listening to nature.  She pointed out the difference between the white and red mangroves and how they grow and protect the land. 

There was a black crowned night heron sitting on a branch as we rode by him.  He didn’t move!  We see them a lot in Florida, but our guide was so excited that she took a picture.  She said they are rare in the Galapagos. 

We saw more turtles.  We also saw some white herons (which we see all the time in Florida).  And then we saw all the blue footed boobies again.  She told us that the darker their feet, the healthier they eat.  

There were two islands in the distance, Daphne Major and Daphne Menor. They are important in the study of evolution. 

We got back to the ship around 6pm.  We had a cocktail welcome with the captain at 7pm.  We took a shower and I finished putting things away in the room.  

At the cocktail welcome, they gave us a couple of appetizers.  When Jose stopped at our table, he gave me a special one that did not have peppers in it!  I was very impressed. 

We were introduced to more of the crew and all of the naturalists introduced themselves.  Then Socrates went through our itinerary for the next day.  It’s a lot, but I am very excited because we will get to see the giant tortoises tomorrow!  

At 7:30 we went to dinner.  You actually choose your meal during the day on a clipboard by the restaurant.  I picked vegetarian and my husband had the fish.  The fish was called Brujo and it was so light and reminded us of lobster.  

After dinner we went up to the observation deck to look around. We saw birds flying with us and the stars were unreal.  I can always find Orion’s Belt quickly.  

On our way down to our cabin we stopped at the Bridge.  You can go in there at any time!  You just have to knock on the door.  It was pretty cool at night. We chatted with the woman in charge and she said on a full moon it is amazing. 

We returned to our room to relax and go to bed early.  Breakfast tomorrow starts at 6:30!