Arrival in Galapagos, North Seymour Island--June 8

I was so excited to wake up this morning, that I was watching the clock for 5 AM. Up for another fabulous breakfast of hot cereal with all kinds of goodies. A quick good-bye to the Hacienda and Faris and we were off to the airport.

At the airport, we had to xray our bags and they were locked and checked. The Galapagos are 600 miles off shore, so it was a 2 1/2 hour plane ride. I was soooo ready. Before we landed, the flight attendants sprayed the overhead compartments with "non-toxic" insect spray. Sure didn't smell "non-toxic."

Anyway, we landed in Baltra the early afternoon, got our bags, paid the $100 cash entrance fee to the national park, met our naturalist (Oswaldo), and headed out for the boat. 

Crew

This is how we got on and off the boat

We got a safety and "do no harm, do not touch the animals" briefing and we set sail. We only were going to have time for one stop the first night. Sunset is always at 6 PM on the equator. We landed on Bacchus Beach on North Seymour Island and took our first hike of the trip.

Already, we are seeing so many types of life that I've never seen before. Camera was snapping away.  And it appears to be mating and nursery season.

Male Blue Footed Boobies dance and whistle to impress their mates.

If you look close, there's a chick

Look . . .an egg

Male Magnificent Frigate Birds puff up the red pouches in their necks to attract a mate.

Look--a chick

Isn't this chick cute?

Juvenile

The Sea Lions are just so freaking cute.

The Land Iguanas and lava lizards look prehistoric. . .colorful.





















The Brown Pelican and Swallow Tail Lava Gulls are stunners.









And we saw a brown snake...apparently very rare on the island.

Back to the boat for dinner. We got the "conserve water on the boat" briefing, the "don't put paper in the toilet" briefing, and the "here's what we are doing tomorrow" briefing. We set sail for San Cristobal Island (the longest sail of the trip.) Even though I was wearing scopalamine patch, I got a little queasy like everyone else (including the guide, so I didn't feel bad) and went to bed early. I was rocked to sleep like a baby on the ocean waves. Despite a little nausea, I felt at peace and slept soundly with a smile on my face. Can hardly wait to see what's in store tomorrow.