Plaza South
Island and
Bachas Beach...
Island and
Bachas Beach...
April 7, 2007
At 6:30am we were due upstairs. Talk about an early morning at Plazas South. We weren’t the only early risers this morning - we
were greeted by sea lions as they popped their heads in and out of the water to acknowledge our arrival. I guess waking up this
early has its privileges…
We roamed this island and found things such as land iguanas that I call the ‘G.I. Joe Iguanas’ because their coloring looked as if they
are wearing military fatigues (and is it a coincidence that ‘G.I.’ could stand for ‘Galapagos Islands’??? Hmmm…), Galapagos gulls (a
bird whose red webbed feet and red-rimmed eyes added a certain sense of personality to the little guy), dead iguanas (sad but
true…they looked like itty-bitty versions of something out of Jurassic Park), prickly pear cacti, natural basalt stone (that was so
beautiful and shiny it looked like it could be used to build a church in Europe), more brightly colored Sally Lightfoot crabs and, of
course, loads of sea lions (including little pups that looked partly like a Dachshund puppy).
And then it was time for some food. Nothing like starting breakfast off with some tree tomato juice. Sounds not very good, huh? So
very wrong. I admit that I saw this on a menu in town yesterday and I thought ‘Eww, who would choose tree tomato juice over
blackberry or orange juice?’ But that was before I knew was tree tomato juice tasted like. We had no idea what we were drinking –
after all, it looked like orange juice so we assumed that was what it was – but then we noticed that it was a slightly different flavor
than any of us recognized. And that was when Luis, our waiter, told us about the tree tomato. He even cut one open for us – it
looked like a tomato with little pomegranate seeds in it. Pretty crazy.
We relaxed on the boat while we ventured off to our next island. During this time a frigate bird welcomed me to the Galapagos. How
does a bird do this, you ask? They shat on you. That’s how. I then had to tend to the milky substance I had on my chest.
Time to pick out our snorkeling gear because we were heading to a Bachas Beach. Nice! But before snorkeling, we took a little walk
around the island. We saw more little crabbies, more iguanas, more pelicans and a lone flamingo (there is a freshwater lagoon on
this island). I also learned while sitting and watching the flamingo that not all flies are harmless. I felt a slight sting and I thought it
was weird when I saw it was only a fly on my leg. ‘Flies don’t sting when they land on you’, I thought. Turns out this is not the case
with horseflies. Once I shoed the thing off of me, a small trace of blood was trickling down my leg. What’s a little blood, right?
Now it was time to head to the beach. Such a beautiful beach with vivid blue and aqua-green toned water. But there was no time to
look at the water. That was because it was time to get into the water. The water turned out to be…um…much colder than I was
expecting it to be. But in the name of the Galapagos, I was more than willing to brave it. Wouldn’t you say that seeing schools of
hundreds of fish, a sting ray and a couple white tip reef sharks would make swimming in a bit of cold water worth it? I would say so!
While we were cruising along, several dolphins made an appearance. As if the scenery wasn’t already nice enough…
Tonight we met the staff of our boat. We learned that the staff-to-passenger numbers are 9-to-7. Talk about service, huh? We were
also given some local cocktails (or ‘endemic cocktails’ as they like to call them) of blackberry juice, rum and ice (kind of like a
blackberry daiquiri).
It is amazing how our body clocks out here have made us all old fogies. For the second night in a row, by 8:30pm we were all ready
to have a date with our beds. We’ll just blame it on the sun…
At 6:30am we were due upstairs. Talk about an early morning at Plazas South. We weren’t the only early risers this morning - we
were greeted by sea lions as they popped their heads in and out of the water to acknowledge our arrival. I guess waking up this
early has its privileges…
We roamed this island and found things such as land iguanas that I call the ‘G.I. Joe Iguanas’ because their coloring looked as if they
are wearing military fatigues (and is it a coincidence that ‘G.I.’ could stand for ‘Galapagos Islands’??? Hmmm…), Galapagos gulls (a
bird whose red webbed feet and red-rimmed eyes added a certain sense of personality to the little guy), dead iguanas (sad but
true…they looked like itty-bitty versions of something out of Jurassic Park), prickly pear cacti, natural basalt stone (that was so
beautiful and shiny it looked like it could be used to build a church in Europe), more brightly colored Sally Lightfoot crabs and, of
course, loads of sea lions (including little pups that looked partly like a Dachshund puppy).
And then it was time for some food. Nothing like starting breakfast off with some tree tomato juice. Sounds not very good, huh? So
very wrong. I admit that I saw this on a menu in town yesterday and I thought ‘Eww, who would choose tree tomato juice over
blackberry or orange juice?’ But that was before I knew was tree tomato juice tasted like. We had no idea what we were drinking –
after all, it looked like orange juice so we assumed that was what it was – but then we noticed that it was a slightly different flavor
than any of us recognized. And that was when Luis, our waiter, told us about the tree tomato. He even cut one open for us – it
looked like a tomato with little pomegranate seeds in it. Pretty crazy.
We relaxed on the boat while we ventured off to our next island. During this time a frigate bird welcomed me to the Galapagos. How
does a bird do this, you ask? They shat on you. That’s how. I then had to tend to the milky substance I had on my chest.
Time to pick out our snorkeling gear because we were heading to a Bachas Beach. Nice! But before snorkeling, we took a little walk
around the island. We saw more little crabbies, more iguanas, more pelicans and a lone flamingo (there is a freshwater lagoon on
this island). I also learned while sitting and watching the flamingo that not all flies are harmless. I felt a slight sting and I thought it
was weird when I saw it was only a fly on my leg. ‘Flies don’t sting when they land on you’, I thought. Turns out this is not the case
with horseflies. Once I shoed the thing off of me, a small trace of blood was trickling down my leg. What’s a little blood, right?
Now it was time to head to the beach. Such a beautiful beach with vivid blue and aqua-green toned water. But there was no time to
look at the water. That was because it was time to get into the water. The water turned out to be…um…much colder than I was
expecting it to be. But in the name of the Galapagos, I was more than willing to brave it. Wouldn’t you say that seeing schools of
hundreds of fish, a sting ray and a couple white tip reef sharks would make swimming in a bit of cold water worth it? I would say so!
While we were cruising along, several dolphins made an appearance. As if the scenery wasn’t already nice enough…
Tonight we met the staff of our boat. We learned that the staff-to-passenger numbers are 9-to-7. Talk about service, huh? We were
also given some local cocktails (or ‘endemic cocktails’ as they like to call them) of blackberry juice, rum and ice (kind of like a
blackberry daiquiri).
It is amazing how our body clocks out here have made us all old fogies. For the second night in a row, by 8:30pm we were all ready
to have a date with our beds. We’ll just blame it on the sun…
A day at the beach.
Sally Lightfoot is on the prowl.
I'm ready for my close-up.
