RECOUNTING ADVENTURES November 7 through November 14 in Galapagos:

I met two research scientists, Elizabeth and Kathryn.  They both worked at the Darwin ResearchStation and have been coming here for over three decades to work and also to visit as tourists.  These gals are a ton of fun.  Who else would ride the "worm" with me around Puerto Ayora?  Not once but twice waving to the local population.

They ladies were a wealth of information re the various species here and also about the history of research pertinent to the Galapagos.  We saw a beautiful egret almost on our dinner table one night.  Darwin's finches came for breakfast in the garden every morning. The male is larger and black while the female is grey and slightly smaller.

In Puerto Ayora early in the trip I managed to leave my travel belt in a cab.  The driver I enlisted to help called every cab in PA until he finally found my belt with all but my passport in it.

Puerto Ayora is the largest town in Galapagos.  It has a very active and large waterfront.  The busy fish market is amazing.  There is a large public eating area where you buy your fresh caught and then cooked food and take it to a table.  I did a lot of preparing to travel on by going to booking agents, getting a mani/pedi etc.

I have connected with a friend who is writing the travel guide on the Galapagos for the Moon Travel Guides.  I am going to work with her on part of the book.  I will meet with her before we go off on the amazing cruise.

On Remembrance day I headed over to Isabela on the speedboat.  It was a relatively smooth crossing.  It can really be pretty rough.  I found a great place to stay.  I have the top floor of the Bar Beta with a fabulous big terrace overlooking the ocean and 180 degrees of beachfront.

It was super to get reunited with Marlena and Jim from the Booby Trap.  Marlena came here as a baby with her schoolteacher mother and Jim was in the second guiding class of the Galapagos National Parks Board.  Roberto and Fabrizio are keeping very busy with tours to the ever so wonderful Tunnels.
My friend Sebastion is still here along with all the young surfers who hang out at the Casa Rosada.  Clarinet player extrodinare, Mike is back from the US.  Jimmy is back from his singing gig in Cuba.  Isabela is laid back and wonderful with its cast of interesting characters.

I made a trip to the Tunnels with Roberto.  My pictures as well as ones from other people were good.  There were more seahorses to be found than in the Spring.  I guess that those female seahorses really were pregnant.

We did quite a bit of boat surfing to get out to the lava formations but once we entered the area the navigation was tricky but smooth sailing.

Yesterday I had a super water morning.  Jim, from the Booby Trap, myself and Frank from Holland jumped into the water at 6 AM and made our way to Conche Pearla through an opening in the lava rocks.  We had to go against the tide but once we entered the tidal pool the swimming was easy.  Our intention was to see penguins feeding on plentiful anchovies.  However, we only saw one penguin. Other wildlife was plentiful, especially rays, turtles, fish and sealions.  We had a marvelous time until cold and cramps forced us to leave the aquarium (as it were).

Getting up on the pier without a ladder was a bit of a trick for me.  As Jim commented it was a good thing that I invited strong, young Frank Corneliess to come along with us.  He really worked hard to get me out of the water.

I'm catching up on editing etc. today as I am off to Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island tomorrow.    I will have a business meeting or two and then Muriel arrives to go cruising later in the week.