As the National Geographic Endeavour left Puerto Barquerizo Moreno, we took a quick tour around the ship and watched as we repositioned to our first trip ashore.
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| Leaving Puerto Barquerizo Moreno |
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| San Cristobal Island |
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| Readying the Zodiacs |
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| Open Bridge policy--Pam & Maged are listening to one of the officers explain the charts |
We passed the landmark Kicker Rock (León Dormido)--it wasn't till we were past it that you could clearly see how apt the name is.
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| Kicker Rock |
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| Cerrro Brujo (Wizard Hill) |
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| Low clouds on the highlands |
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| Kevin on ship as we pass Kicker Rock |
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| See the boot? |
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| Cerro Brujo (we will land on the beach to the right) |
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| Close up of Cerro Brujo |
This was a wet landing from the Zodiacs on a soft sandy beach at a site called Cerro Brujo (Wizard Hill). This is part of the National Park, as is about 95% of all the land surface in the archipelago. In addition, there is a huge marine reserve. Rules are very strict in order to preserve this unique land, its plants and animals, but it was not hardship to abide by them.
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| View of NG Endeavour from the Zodiac |
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| In the Zodiac as we pass the base of Cerro Brujo |
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| Cerro Brujo |
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| Our landing beach with Kicker Rock and the Endeavour |
Sea lions, Chatham or San Cristóbal mockingbirds, more Sally Lightfoot crabs than one could possibly count, our first marine iguana and first diving blue-footed booby. We were divided into small groups, each group with its own naturalist. We walked and learned as a group, then had free time to roam about the beach and in the water. It was a little cool to swim but many of us went wading.
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| San Cristóbal mockingbird |
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| Sea lion |
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| Sally Lightfoot crabs |
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| Sandy beach, but many lava rock formations as well |
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| Looking toward the cloud-shrouded highlands |
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| Marine iguana |
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| That splash in the center is a diving blue-footed booby--I wasnt' quite fast enough to catch it in flight. |
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| Yellow warbler |
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| Part of the beach walk |
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| Kicker rock & NG Endeavour |
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| Sea lion |
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| Kevin on the beach |
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| And Kathi on the beach |
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| Sea lion pup nursing |
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| Cerro Brujo (Wizard Hill) |
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| Ghost crab hole |
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| Kathi with her feet in the Pacific Ocean |
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| Kathi at Cerro Brujo |
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| Nope, I don't know the name of this flowering plant |
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| The immature Sally Lightfoot crabs are black |
The animals are wild--don't ever forget that. But they have no fear of people and we could get quite close to them. We were asked to keep a 6-10 foot "free space" from the animals and to never surround them, always giving them a "way out" if they felt the need to move. Of course, sometimes when they moved, it was right at us--and we scrambled to give them the right of way.
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| Time to return to the ship for the Captain's welcome cocktail party and dinner |
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