November 15, 2014: Santa Cruz Island
	November 13, 2014: Santa Cruz and North Seymour Islands
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Today, we will be on San Cristobal Island. There will be a number of activities here- on shore, on the Zodiacs and on the ship. We'll have a morning hike, an afternoon Zodiac ride, an afternoon beach walk and then, on board the ship, we will circumnavigate Kicker Rock.

Today, we'll be getting up very early to leave the ship at 800AM to take one of the Zodiacs in to San Cristobal Island for our hike and visit to the Interpretive Center. Before we do that, though, we should probably orient ourselves to the island of San Cristobal, and specifically our morning activities.

From the Xpedition, anchored off the island of San Cristobal, our Zodiacs will take us in to the harbor at the port of Baquerizo Moreno. Once landed, then buses will take us to the starting point for our morning hike. At the end of that hike, we will wind up at the Interpretive Center, which we will walk through. Finally, buses will take us back to the harbor area where we will have a chance to explore the port for a bit before heading back to the ship for lunch.

Let's go ahead and look at some of the pictures we took as the Zodiacs transferred us from the Xpedition to the pier at Baquerizo Moreno. You can click on the thumbnail images below to see some of the pictures that Fred took on the way in to the pier:

The ride to the drop-off point for our hike was short, but interesting, winding as it did through the port's residential areas. Fred got a couple of good street scene pictures from the bus window, and you can have a look at them here and here.

Galapagos Shore Excursion (12a):
          Long Walk at Tijeretas

When Monica did the preview of today's activities last night, the four of us opted for as much as we could do, and so we chose the long hike and visit to the Interpretive Center for our morning excursion.

The daily bulletin described this excursion thusly:

"A hike along a partly-paved path with a few steep sections provides a series of beautiful overlooks and vistas. At one stop an American-made cannon dating from the Second World War taken by the Ecuadorian Navy in the early 1970s for military exercises can be seen. Another vista offers a panoramic view of the northern coast of San Cristobal, including Kicker Rock (León Dormido). And in honor of his visit to the island, Charles Darwin is immortalized in bronze at another overlook and makes for a great photographic companion. Several endemic species may be seen, including the candelabra cactus, Galapagos iron wood, Galapagos cotton and be sure to look for lava lizards and the Chatham mockingbird, one of the rarest mockingbirds. Duration: About 2 hours"

The bus from the pier, which carried about sixteen of us, dropped us off at the end of the road that curved north and northwest along the shore of the bay at Baquerizo Moreno. The bus from the port dropped us off at a wide place in the road where we disembarked and then listened to our naturalist for bit as he explained the area that the hike would cover. While he was talking, Fred snapped a picture of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno across the water from where we were standing.

Then we headed off on the first leg of the hike- a fairly level trail through the low trees. Click on the thumbnails below for a few pictures taken along this stretch:

I also made a short movie as we were walking along, and it will give you a good idea of what this part of the hike was actually like. You can use the player below to watch it:

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After a quick ten minutes or so, we came out onto a beach that stretched away to the north. Here, we found the first wildlife of the trek- some sea lions.

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The beach we came to was an idyllic spot; the morning was fairly warm and this would have been a great place to spend some time. One of the things that made it special were the ten or twelve sea lions sunning themselves on the sand. I was able to get quite close to one of the sea lions; it is interesting how much their muzzle looks like a cross between a dog and a cat. I made a movie of the sea lions, and one little pup calling out; you can use the player at right to watch that movie.

We took lots of pictures as well; click on the thumbnail images below to see the best of them:

I also used my camera to make a panoramic view of this lovely beach; you can see it below:

We headed off again, away from the beach, this time on a boardwalk that led through the low trees and bushes. We were winding our way generally along the shore but inland to get to an obervation platform that looks out over a place called "Love Beach".

The path, now stone, wandered across the landscape; Fred saw a good many of the "cactus trees" that he had seen on other islands. Apparently, this form of cactus is quite unusual. Since we weren't far from the shore, there were views, off and on, all the way to the overlook. At one point we got a good view of the Xpedition at anchor offshore.

After a few minutes walk, which took us through a junction with the pathway that we would take on our return from the summit, we arrived at the overlook where there were excellent views out across the ocean and along the shoreline of San Cristobal.

We took a number of good pictures as we followed the walkway across the landscape and once we got to the overlook. You can click on the thumbnail images below to have a look at some of them:

San Cristóbal is the easternmost island in the Galápagos archipelago, as well as one of the oldest geologically. It is composed of 3 or 4 fused volcanoes, all extinct and home to the oldest permanent settlement of the islands; it is also the island where Darwin first went ashore in 1835. This island has the only natural freshwater source in the Galapagos- a lake called El Junco- and it was the existence of this water source that led to the island's early settlement of San Cristobal. As at Botany Bay, a penal colony was built here in 1880 for prisoners from mainland Ecuador; it was decommissioned mid-century and turned into a military base for Ecuador and export center for the island's products including sugar, coffee, cassava, cattle, fish and lime.

Here at the overlook, I did another panoramic shot:

We came back to the main pathway from the overlook and followed it through the trees and then back out towards the shore to the Darwin Statue- the most famous spot on San Cristobal and one of the most famous in the islands. The statue is comprised of Darwin, of course, as well as a giant tortoise and a sea lion.

The statue of Charles Darwin marks the original site where he first disembarked in the Galápagos Islands. Near the statue is a sign that shows the route of the Beagle's voyage in 1835.

I took a picture of the sign, but the wording was hard to read, so I have transcribed it here for you:

"The HMS Beagle sailed from Callao Peru and, on 15 September, 1835, it reached the archipelago with scientist Charles Darwin aboard. Long after his trip back to England, he organized his notes and collections from his trip on the Beagle and proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection in 1859, based on his meaningful research experience in the marvelous Galapagos Islands."

As there were from the previous overlook, there were good views from here at the base of the Darwin Statue. Nearby was a cove with a small pier, and the color of the water was reminiscent of Hawaii. You can see that cove here. And you can click on the thumbnail images at left to see some of the other views from the Darwin Statue.

What we did next was walk down the stone path towards the shore. On the way, and we were quite some distance from the bottom, we passed an odd sight- a sea lion lying on the walkway. Everyone had to step around him carefully, but I found myself wondering how and why he had come up this far from the water; we had never seen one more than a few feet from or above the surf. The guide had no idea either.

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On the way down the path, there were good views out towards Kicker Rock, and Fred also found some unusual flowers to photograph.

We were supposed to go to the top of Tijeretas Hill for the expansive views, but when we got to the turnoff for the pathway up, we found that it was closed- apparently because damage to the stone path was being repaired. This was disappointing (and had I not been in a guided group I would have gone on up anyway), but there was little we could do. Instead, we turned back towards the Interpretive Center. I made a movie along the pathway, looking back towards the port, and you can use the player at left to watch it. We also took a few pictures along the path as well, and you can click on the thumbnail images below to have a look:

After another twenty minutes of walking (much of that time accompanied by one of our friends from the Xpedition), we came to the Interpretive Center, entering the complex from the back.

Galapagos Shore Excursion (12b):
          Interpretive Center at San Cristobal

Our morning walk (since we couldn't go to the top of the mountain to get the really good views, I can't really call it a "hike") ended up right at the Interpretive Center, and we had plenty of time (again, considering the shortened walk) to see everything inside.

The daily bulletin described this excursion thusly:

"Inaugurated in August 1998, the Interpretation Center provides an excellent overview of the natural history of the Galapagos Islands, including its volcanic origins, the remoteness from the continent, its ocean currents, special climate, the arrival of different species and their establishment.  The Human History exhibit highlights the most significant events related to the discovery and colonization of the Galapagos. In addition, the reality of today's Galapagos is explored discussing the problems associated with development and the struggles of several institutions and individuals striving to conserve these precious islands.   The Center also has a tortoise named PEPE, which was once a pet and part of an exhibit in the Catholic museum of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. There will also be time afterwards for shopping if desired. Duration: About 1 hour"

The work of the Interpretation Center in San Cristobal is one of the components of the project "Plan of Interpretation and Environmental Education for the Galapagos Islands. In the center are exhibits that take the visitor through the history of the islands in the context of nature, humankind and conservation.

Part of the Center is a Museum of Natural History; here the visitor can find explanations of the series of natural occurrences and circumstances (e.g., volcanism) that led to the creation of the islands. The islands themseves are described in a series of exhibits that highlight their remoteness from the continent, the surrounding ocean and ocean currents, the special climate in the islands and the arrival and subsequent evolution of different species, among many other topics.

The Human History exhibit narrates chronologically the most significant events related to the discovery and colonization of the Galapagos, and another portion of this series of exhibits describes the reality of today's Galapagos: the problems and the struggle of several institutions and individuals to conserve Galapagos.

The Exhibits

I mentioned that we actually entered the Interpretation Center from the back, and so at least I went through the exhibits in reverse order. But I did take lots of pictures of most of the exhibits- mostly because I wanted to have the luxury of reading them at my leisure. What I am going to do in this section is present those photographs and exhibits in the order we would have encountered them had we entered through the front of the Center.

I didn't photograph everything, but what I did take pictures of I will include here. All the exhibits were in both Spanish and English, but all I'll include here are the English translations. As an example, here are the English sections of the very first display:

For some exhibits, there were numerous little sections of English, and for those, I might show you the entire display and add the English translations off to the side, keyed to the large picture. An example was the second exhibit we came to:

A B C D E

We next passed what I thought was an beautiful volcano picture, so I had Fred pose beside it; you can see that picture here.

Over by a window, we found the first of many exhibits having to do with the Galapagos as a natural laboratory in which natural selection and evolution could play out:

Next, we had a series of informative exhibits that talked about how the climate of the Galapagos is determined by the winds and the ocean currents. Here are the English portions of that series:

The next exhibit: How did the plants and animals arrive in the Galapagos Islands?

Next exhibit: Forests in the Galapagos

The diagram in this exhibit was intended to show that there are four different forest zones in the islands- two of them get a fair amount of rain or moisture while the other two are arid. In our excursions, we only infrequently entered the most moist zone- when we went to plant scalesia trees on our last day here.

Here is the narrative that went along with the graphic:

Next began a long series of exhibits chronicling the history of the Galapagos Islands. Of course, when I first came through, I was going the wrong way, having entered from the back of the exhibits, so in presenting this historical exhibit to you, I have reversed my photos to put them in chronological order. So now, have a walk through the historical timeline of the Galapagos:

There were some exhibits about subsequent colonization efforst, but many of the wall displays did not photograph well. The next major colonization effort began in 1858 when Manuel J. Cobos, José Monroy, and José Valdizán formed the Orchillera Company. When this project failed, Cobos moved to El Progreso, a settlement on San Cristóbal, and focused his efforts on the production of sugar cane, coffee, and tortoise oil. From 1879, the “Cobos Empire” infamously used prisoners and indentured laborers, until his disgruntled “workers” assassinated him in 1904. From 1860, José Valdizán extracted orchil in Floreana and, in 1869, he won an exclusive 12-year contract from the government of Ecuador to extract orchil from Galapagos. Valdizán died during an uprising in 1878. The trade in orchil declined because of the discovery of large quantities of the lichen in Baja California and because of the development of synthetic dyes, beginning with mauveine developed in London in 1856.

The next historical account was 1897: Isabela Island- A Cemetery of Tortoises

Antonio Vil

In 1893, Antonio Gil made a third attempt to colonize Floreana, but abandoned his efforts and moved to Isabela, where he founded the settlements of Puerto Villamil and Santo Tomás.

By 1905, there were 200 people living on Isabela, exporting sulfur and lime and using tortoises for meat and oil. Colonists also mined salt from James Bay on Santiago Island in 1886, from 1924 to 1930, and in the 1960s. They used the salt to cure fish and to fill the infrequent demand produced by heavy rains flooding the coastal Salinas saltpans on the mainland.

At the turn of the century, the Galapagos began to turn from a remote zoological laboratory and sometime zone of conflict into a civilized location to which settlers could move with reasonable assurance of safety.

The government of Ecuador began publicizing the Galapagos in an attempt to attract settlers, as the exhibit at left detailed. the English narrative was:

These settlements, however, were not successful. Life was extremely hard in the islands with little fresh water and land unsuitable for large-scale farming.

In 1925, Norwegians colonized Floreana and San Cristóbal. Initially those in Floreana planned to set up a whaling station, but that did not work out and they moved to Academy Bay in Santa Cruz. Other Norwegians had arrived on Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal in 1926. On Santa Cruz they focused on fishing and canning turtles, lobster, and grouper, a venture that ended after the cannery boiler exploded in 1927. Norwegians living in Wreck Bay on San Cristóbal also moved to Santa Cruz in 1928.

In an interruption of the historical account, there was an interesting display about a still-unsolved mystery on Floreana Island.

In 1929, German colonists arrived in Floreana, leading to a wealth of stories about the eccentric Dr. Friedrich Ritter, Dore Strauch, Baroness Eloise Wagner de Bosquet, and the Wittmer family. The stories ended in tragedy in 1934, when the Baroness and one of her partners disappeared, Ritter died of food poisoning, and another inhabitant ended up mummified on Marchena Island. The occurrences remain a mystery to this day.

During the 1930s, other German families arrived in Santa Cruz to work with the Norwegian colony and lived, initially, by farming and fishing. However, San Cristóbal was more attractive to colonists because of its relatively easy access to water. This was the most populous island until the 1960s and, as a result, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is the administrative capital of the archipelago.

And there the Galapagos remained, still an isolated, out-of-the-way destination for adventurers, tourists and the occasional immigrant. Until the run-up to World War II, that is.

The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 enhanced the strategic importance of the Galapagos Islands as a potential refueling station for trans-oceanic transport. In 1911, the US suggested a 99-year lease of the islands in return for US$15 million. Later, the US and Ecuador discussed the rental or purchase of San Cristóbal, or of the whole archipelago. With the advent of the Second World War, the strategic significance of Galapagos grew, and, in 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and with concern about Japanese actions in East Asia, the US approached Ecuador with the idea of establishing a US airbase on Baltra Island to protect the Panama Canal. At the end of 1941, US forces arrived from the Panama Canal Zone.

In 1942, the US Sixth Air Force constructed the air base which was to have important long-term consequences for the islands. In 1943, this base was home to 2,474 US officers and men and 750 civilian laborers; as such, this was the largest colonization of the islands to that date. In 1941, the civilian population of the Galapagos Islands was 810 people. The arrival of so many people increased the demand for water, fish, and agricultural products, and threw a lifeline to the people eking out a livelihood on the islands. Base crews constructed a water pipeline from the highlands to Wreck Bay, in San Cristóbal, and used barges to transport water to Baltra Island. The availability of water in Wreck Bay made San Cristóbal more attractive to immigration and meant that people could move down to live in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

The greatest legacy was the construction of the first land-based airport in the islands—now modernized to serve as the main entry point for most travelers to the Galapagos Islands. The US closed the air base in 1946; residents dismantled the structures left behind, using the components to build many of the early houses in Puerto Ayora and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

The series of historical exhibits came to an end in the period after World War II and up to 1960. At the end of the war, the importance of the islands began to decline as the possibility of another world-wide naval conflict faded. The United States decommissioned its official facilities, and the islands were, once again, left to their own devices.

The one continuing government presence seemed to be the penal colony, but the days of this institution were also numbered. As you can read in the excerpt from the last of the series of historical exhibits, the use of the Galapagos as a penal colony ended in 1959.

The fortunate circumstance led to the development of the Galapagos Islands into what it is today- a high-end eco-tourism destination. 55 years later, Fred and I became two of those eco-tourists.

The remainder of the exhibits, many of which were quite interesting, had to do with the development of the Galapagos Islands. The thrust of these exhibits was that the administration of the islands must continually balance development with unwanted ecological impacts. This section of the exhibits began with a survey of land use around the world.

LAND USE IN WORLD NATIONS

One exhibit tracked land use by nation, and I thought it was interesting to compare how nations ranked. The key to the bar chart was as follows:

To see the actual bar chart, first position this page just above the legend by clicking here. Now, just click the link "Show Chart" below. You will be able to scroll up and down the chart, and you can just close the pop-up window when you are done.

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

SUSTAINABLE FARMING

SUSTAINABLE FISHING

SUSTAINABLE POPULATION

SUSTAINING INDIGENOUS SPECIES

There was another series of exhibits that just highlighted aspects of life in the Galapagos. While interesting, these exhibits don't really add much to your understanding of the islands themselves, and so I won't parse them and include them here.

When we were done inside the Interpretation Center, we headed outside to look around the rest of the Interpretation Center complex.

Outside the center, there were walkways that led to the other buildings, as well as some plantings that Fred found interesting. There were some neat murals to look at, and it was fun to wander around. Click on the thumbnail images below to see some of the pictures we took while wandering around the Center complex:

When we were ready to head back to town, we followed the winding walkway down to what is actually the Center entrance. There, we waited for a few minutes until the next shuttle showed up to take us back to the harbor.

Galapagos Shore Excursion (12c):
          Walking Through Puerto Baquerizo Moreno

When we were done at the Interpretation Center, one of the shuttles took us back to the harbor and let us out so we could walk around for a while before returning to the ship. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is the capital of the Galápagos Province; Even though it is the capital, the town has the second largest population: 6,672 inhabitants, mainly fishermen. The primary industries are artisan fishing, tourism, and arable farming. The city takes its name from the president Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno (1859-1951), the first president to visit the Galápagos Islands during his presidency.

When we got back to where the shuttle buses stopped near the pier where we had come in, we had some time and thought we would take a walk through the town to see what it was like. We first walked southwest along the inland side of the street along the harbor, just stopping and photographing whatever seemed interesting. You can click on the thumbnail images below to see some of these pictures:

I had gotten a scratchy throat on the ship yesterday, and had a bit of a sore throat this morning, so it was fortunate that we put in to Puerto Moreno this morning; I was able to stop by a little grocery store and pick up a bag of what passed locally for Hall's menthol candy. Fortunately, I never developed a real cold and my throat felt fine after sucking on the candies for a day or so.

As you can see from the aerial view of Puerto Moreno at right, when we got down to the end of the harbor street, we crossed over to the water side and began walking back to the pier. The first thing we noticed was the shipwreck at the end of the beach.

Why it was still laying there I have no idea; one would have thought it would have been salvaged. Click on the thumbnail images at left for a couple of pictures of it.

We began working our way back towards the pier, walking first along the beach and then along the beachside plaza that had been built along the water. As we walked along the beach just northeast of the wreck, we came across a good many of the ubiquitous sea lions laying all over the beach. Looking back from the northeast end of the sandy beach, Yoost got a nice picture of the sea lions and the beach with the shipwreck as a backdrop; you can see that picture here.

At the northeast end of the beach, the shore turned rocky, as this was the active part of the harbor. Here, there were more sea lions, zonked out on the rocks. Click on the thumbnails at right to see some of them.

When we ran out of sand, we went over to the street to continue onto the bayside plaza. Right at the southwest end of this plaza, we came to one of the many statues and busts of Charles Darwin that are scattered throughout the Galapagos. I guess the islands to have him to thank for putting them on the map- almost literally. Also, Fred happened to notice a very interesting sign advertising a hotel/hostel. Read it closely and you will see what I mean.

I have mentioned a few times on these pages that the Galapagos wildlife had suffered greatly from the introduction, accidental or otherwise, of domestic animals such as goats, pigs, dogs and cats. On most of the islands, an eradication program has successfully eliminated these animals. But on the inhabited islands, this is impractical, and San Cristobal is one of those islands. Here at the bayside plaza we encountered the first cat that we had seen since leaving home (although that is not entirely surprising as we have been mostly in downtown areas of Quito or here in the islands).

Cat lovers that we are, we just had to stop and take a picture or two. The cat turned out to be very friendly, and looked not to have missed many meals, and so we assume that he was in someone's care.

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The cat was so cute, and it had been so long since we had seen one, that I just had to make a video of our encounter with it. You can watch that video with the player at right.

Being an orange tabby, he was particularly interesting to Fred, who favors that coloring in cats. In any event, we got in some petting time before heading on up the plaza towards the pier.

The harbor here at Puerto Moreno is very picturesque, and I kept seeing potential jigsaw puzzles everywhere. At the southwestern end of the plaza I had Fred pose by a sign that listed, apparently, all of the Galapagos islands. You can see that photo here.

We have been continually surprised by just how ubiquitous the sea lions are around here. You expect them on the beaches, of course, and lying on the rocks by the water, but on a number of occasions we have found them a good distance away from the ocean, and that surprised us. They do not navigate well, or easily, over land, and it would seem very difficult for them to do that- particularly on concrete or flagstone, such as the plaza here. Seeing the two sea lions here on the walkway made me wonder how far they might actually go away from the water. The one we saw earlier this morning on our hike had traveled even farther than these- and uphill to boot.

This plaza was a really nice place to just sit and relax; I am sure that on days that aren't as overcast as this one, there must be many folks out here- particular when the season is at its height and all the cruise lines are running as many cruises as they are allowed.

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There was a curved wooden walkway along the waterside of the plaza and we walked out on it. There, we spotted a few pelicans and got some good pictures of them. Click on the thumbnails below to have a look:

I also thought I would make a movie looking around the harbor, and you can use the player at right to watch it.

Before we head back to the ship on one of the Zodiacs, I want to include one more panoramic view here. It was constructed from six different pictures taken of the entire harbor area from the shipwreck on the southwest to the long pier on the northeast. I think it turned out pretty well:

We got back to the pier and we were waiting for the Zodiac when we noticed yet another example of just how widespread sleeping sea lions are around here. They will take a nap, it seems, literally anywhere.

Lunchtime on the Xpedition

We did not have long to wait at the pier for the next Zodiac to come pick us up. We were, apparently, among the last folks to return from San Cristobal (probably since we had done some extra walking through the town).

We have gotten quite used to riding in the Zodiacs; they were an adventure the first five or six times, but now are a routine way to commute back and forth from the ship. Early on, we took a great many pictures and movies while riding on them, but now we take only a few. Click on the thumbnails below for a few of the pictures we took on the way back today:

We arrived back on board about noontime, and shortly thereafter were having lunch. We had our choice of an Oriental buffet in the restaurant or hamburgers and hot dogs and some other stuff on deck at the Beagle Grill. Since we'd not had lunch at the grill yet, we opten for that. After lunch, there was a roundtable talk with the naturalists about day-to-day life in the Galapagos. We discovered that many of them actually lived here in the islands, but that a few lived on the mainland.

After the discussion, and I got a nice picture of Nancy Crystal and Greg after the naturalist conversation.

Later on this afternoon, the Xpedition will be making a circumnavigation of Kicker Rock. From where we were anchored at the moment, we could get some good pictures of it, and one of these is at right.

Coming up next this afternoon, we have opted for a Zodiac ride around Cerro Brujo and then a walk on the beach near that huge rock outcrop- remnant of a volcano cone. The earlier departure was for folks who just wanted to do the beach walk, and after they left the ship and arrived on the shore, Fred used his zoom to get a picture of them. You can see that picture here.

A short while before out own Zodiac was to leave the ship, we were gathering at the stern. While we were waiting, Fred used his zoom to get an extreme closeup of the base of Cerro Brujo; you can see how barren the vertical rock face is. Fred also took two excellent panoramic shots of Cerro Brujo, and I want to include both of them here:

Galapagos Shore Excursion (13a):
          Zodiac Tour of Cerro Brujo

Our own shore excursion, a Zodiac tour around Cerro Brujo followed by a walk on the beach, was to leave the ship about 3:45, and it left right schedule.

The daily bulletin described this excursion thusly:

"Cerro Brujo on the northwestern side of San Cristóbal provides a gorgeous fine white sand beach for relaxing, swimming, and walking.   The area is dominated by an eroding volcanic tuff cone that can be seen on the way to the beach along with various lava types, giant cracks, and cathedral-like crevices. Duration: About 1.5 hours"

Let's take a closer look at the area we'll be traversing this afternoon.

As we were having lunch and listening to the naturalists, the ship was steaming northward from its anchorage off Puerto Moreno. It would eventually take up a position about midway between Kicker Rock and Cerro Brujo, convenient for the Zodiacs to leave the ship for both Cerro Brujo and the beach nearby.

Cerro Brujo is an ancient tuff cone formed by one of the many volcanoes that constructed the Galapagos Islands. Although we couldn't see it from ground level, the caldera is still intact; none of its walls have eroded to allow water into the caldera. Other, much older volcanoes, have eroded away, but these were much smaller islands where the cone was perhaps the only land poking above sea level. Cerro Brujo is part of a larger island, composed of multiple cones.

While Cerro Brujo is interesting in and of itself (particularly to Darwin, who had three sketches of it in his notes from the Beagle), but it has another feature that makes it a destination for the Zodiacs. The ocean and geologic activity have worn a crevice through the rock, and one of the iconic views in the Galapagos is Kicker Rock viewed through this crevice.

We left the ship on a Zodiac and headed towards Cerro Brujo, getting close to it and then paralleling it for a ways. I made a not-so-spectacular movie with a bit of wind noise, but it gives a good idea of what riding in a Zodiac is like. Use the player below to watch it:

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As you can see on the aerial view above right, we went around one point and then continued along the coast of the Cerro Brujo volcano, heading towards a deep-cut crevasse that we were going to explore.

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I made another movie, which does a much better job of showing Cerro Brujo as we were paralleling it heading for the crevasse. You can use the player at left if you want to watch this movie. I also took three good still pictures in the Zodiac (one a selfie using the extender) and you can click on the thumbnails below to see them:

Going alongside Cerro Brujo was very much unlike taking the Zodiac in to a beach; the steep rock sides of the volcano dropped straight down into the water, and I have no idea how far down those sides must go before they might begin to level out and form the lower slopes of the undersea mountain.

Take a look here at the dark rock side of the volcano as it dives beneath the water. Were the slope even moderately level underneath the surface, there would be waves at least beginning to break on the rock. The fact that the water seemed to just slosh back and forth against the cliff face led me to think that the sheer rock wall must go down tens of feet or even further. It would be immensely interesting to scuba dive here and find out what the cliff is like beneath the surface of the water.

After a few minutes, we came abreast of the crevasse. I have two pictures of it from a short distance out into the ocean. Fred took a picture a couple hundred feet out, and you can see that picture here. Yoost took another as we got a bit closer, and you can see his view here.

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I was busy setting up for the next movie I wanted to take- one that would show us entering the crevasse- and I started that movie as our helmsman slowly nosed the Zodiac inside. You can use the player at right to come with us as we enter this amazing rock formation.

We did not go all the way inside the vertical canyon to the inside rock wall; I suppose that it would have been too dangerous if some large swell had come along and pushed us against the rock. I do know that it would have been very spooky to be all the way in, with the sheer rock walls rising up above you on each side. But we did get inside the enclosure, and so had rock walls on both sides of the craft and a view out the portal to the open ocean. While inside, Fred took a good picture looking up the sides of the canyon.

For my part, I was working on two panoramic views. The first one, which I took from my position sitting on the ladder at the front of the Zodiac, looks at our party with the canyon opening and the open ocean in the background:

Inside the enclosure, our helmsman eventually slowly turned the Zodiac on a dime, preparing to head out of the canyon. Before we exited, though, I asked everyone to pose for a couple of pictures that I put together to show our party this time with the back wall of the canyon in the background:

We came out of the crevasse and continued northeast along the face of the cliff and after just a minute or so we could see ahead of us the geologic feature that made this Zodiac ride worth the time; there was a natural bridge or opening in the rock that sloped down from the top of the crater into the sea.

As our Zodiac came abreast of the opening, we could see through it to the shore of San Cristobal as it continued northeast. We could also see the Zodiac that had been ahead of us (we got the second Zodiac this afternoon that was full of people who'd opted for the same excursion that we had) close to the western end of the opening. Fred got a good picture of them, and you can see that picture here.

Our own Zodiac did not get as close to the opening as the previous one; our naturalist said that the iconic views were from the other side, and so that's where we would go. We rounded the point at the northwest corner of the volcano cone rim, and then came back down the eastern side of the cone to get to the eastern side of the opening.

Our naturalist was right; the view through the opening from the eastern side of it was pretty amazing.

That's the view that's on all the postcards and in all the publications about the Galapagos and the cruises that visit it- Kicker Rock as seen through the natural bridge at Cerro Brujo. Fred got another good view looking through the triangular opening in the rock, and you can have a look at it here.

I thought it was interesting how the actual slope of the crater's side spanned the opening and then continued down into the water; it made me wonder how far down under the sea the opening actually went. (When some of us asked whether we could go through the opening, our naturalist said that no, we wouldn't, but he wasn't clear whether it was because the water was not deep enough, whether the wave action was too strong, or whether such passages were forbidden.) Take a look at my photograph of the outer rock pedestal.

There was a third Zodiac behind us, and while we were on this side of the opening, they were on the other, and Fred got some good pictures. Click on the thumbnails below to have a look at them:

It was really interesting on this side of the opening, and we stayed here for a few minutes, turning the Zodiac this way and that so that everyone could get good pictures.

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I made a movie here on the eastern side of the opening, not because the pictures can't do justice to the scene, but more just to get the flavor of the sound of the waves and the way the scene looked in reality. The movie just looks through the opening at the beginning, and then pans back to look along the rock face as well. Use the player at left if you would like to watch it and get more of the flavor of being there.

While we were here, I also took two panoramic views with my little camera. The first shows the western shore of San Cristobal as it stretches off into the distance:

The other was a view of the folks in our Zodiac with the rock face and rock opening in the background:

After floating around here for a while, it was time to head off for the second part of our afternoon excursion. Our Zodiac left the eastern side of the crater, rounded the point again, and then headed down the western side and paralleled the shore until we reached the beach at Cerro Brujo.

We got a few good pictures as we made the run to the beach, and you can click on the thumbnails at left to have a look at them.

Galapagos Shore Excursion (13b):
          The Beach at Cerro Brujo

The second part of our afternoon outing was a walk along the beach just south of the Cerro Brujo crater. This was supposed to be a great place to watch boobies and frigatebirds feeding.

The daily bulletin described this excursion thusly:

"The people of Port Baquerizo Moreno once mined salt from the back-beach lagoon for preserving cod, beef, and tortoise. Today it is a nice place to possibly observe lake and coastal birds. Duration: About 1 hour"

As you can see from the aerial view at right, our Zodiac came in to shore in a small inlet right south of the volcano crater and let us off. Then we all walked at our own paces down the beach to see what we could see.

The beach at Cerro Brujo was pretty, and pretty amazing; we saw quite a bit in our 90-minute walk. The only drawback to the late afternoon walk was that it was very, very cloudy, which lent a sombre cast to all our pictures. I can only imagine what the beach is like on a sunny afternoon.

Our Zodiac let us off on the beach about five, and then headed back out to the Xpedition to wait until it was time to come pick us up an hour or so from now.

The Beach at Cerro Brujo

As you can see in the aerial view above, there are two sections to Cerro Brujo beach- a small section to the north and a much larger crescent section to the south- and these are separated by a rocky outcropping. Here is one of many excellent panoramic views that Fred and I took of the beach where we walked:

The Beach at Cerro Brujo

If you compare the view above to the aerial view, you can see that the panorama was taken from approximately the middle of the large arc of beach that we walked. The little cove where the Zodiac let us off is very close to Cerro Brujo itself in the background at right.

Walking along the mostly sandy beach was really enjoyable, even if it was overcast. The temperature was in the low 80s, so shorts and short sleeve were quite comfortable. We got a number of good views of the beach itself in a few of the still pictures we took; you can click on the thumbnails below to see some of these:

It was really hard to choose the best of all the panoramic pictures we took of the Cerro Brujo beach. Three more of the very best of them are below:

What you've seen so far of the beach at Cerro Brujo is what the beach itself looks like. What you haven't seen is what the ocean looks like from the beach. After all, the Xpedition is anchored offshore, and Kicker Rock is clearly visible as well.

We had just landed on the beach when we could tell that the views out to the Kicker Rock and the ocean were quite beautiful, and that's when I took my first picture of Fred with that backdrop.

We took other pictures, too, looking out to sea, from various stops during our walk, and each shows the view from a different perspective. Click on the thumbnails below to have a look at some of these pictures:

We took a number of panoramic shots as well, but due to the overcast, not many of them turned out well. I was able to construct a pretty good panoramic view from five separate shots, though, and you can see it below:

Having looked at the beach itself, let's now investigate the wildlife that we found here.

Pelicans and Boobies

We have already seen pelicans and boobies frequently this week, but never as we have seen them today. Both birds are "dive-feeders", and today we got to see them in action.

Pelicans in the Galapagos are atypical of most brown pelicans; when feeding, they dive bill-first like a kingfisher, often submerging completely below the surface momentarily as they snap up prey. Upon surfacing they spill the water from the throat pouch before swallowing their catch. Only the Peruvian pelican shares this active foraging style, while other pelicans forage more inactively by scooping up corralled fish while swimming on the surface of the water. Today we were treated to quite a show; click on the thumbnails below and you'll see what I mean:

Seeing the still pictures is interesting enough, but what really brought the "feeling" of seeing the pelicans (and some boobies) at work home were the movies we took. When we reviewed them later, we found that many of them were quite good- if a bit repetitive. But watching the pelicans at work was so much fun that you should have the opportunity to do so, too. Below are players for four of the best of the ten or fifteen movies that Fred and I took of the feeding action this afternoon:

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Juvenile brown pelicans have been observed foraging in the surface-swimming matter of other pelicans. They are occasional targets of kleptoparasitism by other fish-eating birds such as gulls, skuas and frigatebirds. To finish out this section on the pelicans, I want to include a very neat picture that Yoost took; he captured a pelican flying nearby over the water with the Xpedition anchored a mile or so away as a backdrop. Have a look at that picture here.

Yellow Warblers

The American yellow warbler is a New World warbler species. They make up the most widespread species in the diverse Setophaga genus, breeding in almost the whole of North America and down to northern South America. Warblers are quite common, and there are 35 subspecies divided into three different groups.

Other than in male breeding plumage and body size, all subspecies are very similar. Winter, female and immature birds all have similarly greenish-yellow uppersides and are a duller yellow below. Young males soon acquire breast and, where appropriate, head coloration. Females are somewhat duller, most notably on the head. In all, the remiges and rectrices are blackish olive with yellow edges, sometimes appearing as an indistinct wing-band on the former. The eyes and the short thin beak are dark, while the feet are lighter or darker olive-buff.

Click on the thumbnails below to see four good pictures that Fred and Yoost took of the yellow warblers we encountered:

The mangrove warbler is one of the three warbler groups, and the group has 12 subspecies. Members of this group tend to be larger than other yellow warbler subspecies groups, averaging 5 in. in length and about a half ounce weight. The group resides in the mangrove swamps of coastal Middle America and northern South America; those yellow warblers found in the Galapagos Islands are their own subspecies. Within the group, the summer males differ from those of the yellow warbler in that they have a rufous hood or crown. The races in this group vary in the extent and hue of the hood, overlapping extensively with the other two groups.

Yoost found one very pretty specimen in some thin brush on the sand, and his pictures stood out. Here are three of them, cropped to show the bird close-up:

Sea Lions

We have seen sea lions just about everywhere we have been, and today on the beach at Cerro Brujo is no exception.

We saw maybe twenty or thirty sea lions this afternoon; all seemed to be zonked out. We saw the first group right after getting of the Zodiac. I assume that foraging in the sea takes a good deal of energy, but I am beginning to rethink my assumption that cats sleep more of their lives than sea lions. It seems as if they come up out of the water, make it ten or twenty feet and then collapse- sleeping where they fall.

Click on the thumbnails below to see some sea lions doing what they do best (or at least doing what they do most times we see them):

I made two different movies starring the sea lions. In the first, which you can use the left-hand player below to watch, a pup is nursing. (This movie had a lot of wind noise, so since it is obvious what's going on, I eliminated the audio track). In the other movie, a young sea lion is playing in the surf; you can use the right-hand player below for that movie.

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Below are clickable thumbnails for some other of the pictures we took of the sea lions this afternoon. In the rightmost picture, I am impressed that the sea lion can get into such a tight space- although I found myself wondering why.

Other Photographs from the Beach at Cerro Brujo

We saw more birds and sea lions this afternoon than anything, but we did see a smattering of other Galapagos denizens.

As we walked along, there were other animals to see. At left, you can see a large marine iguana. Usually, these are found in large groups, but today we just saw two or three solitary animals. Perhaps they were here resting and their main colony was somewhere else.

We found a bird different from the pelicans, cormorants and boobies- near as I can figure it was a common gull of some kind. And I saw at least one lava lizard.

So we took pictures of these animals and a few additional beach scenes, and you can click on the thumbnails below to have a look at these last pictures from our walk on the beach at Cerro Brujo:

A Zodiac came to pick us up a little after six, and by six-fifteen we were back onboard and ready for our cruise around Kicker Rock.

Galapagos Shore Excursion (14):
          Circumnavigation of Kicker Rock

Once everyone was back onboard, the crew hauled the Zodiacs aboard as well, and while most of us were in the Discovery Lounge having a drink (me with a mug-full of pisco sour, this evening's signature drink), the captain fired up the engines and we were off on our cruise around the rock.

The daily bulletin described this excursion thusly:

"This evening is the only excursion on your Galapagos adventure that doesn't involve going ashore. The captain will call you out on deck for our cruise around León Dormido (Kicker Rock), and our naturalists will be on hand to offer a description of this unusual rock formation- the last remnant of an extinct volcano. You'll want to bring your camera on deck for great views of this natural wonder. Duration: About 1 hour"

When we got back from our shore excursion, Yoost, Greg, Fred and myself met up in the Discovery Lounge for some drinks and wine before going out on deck for the circumnavigation. We traded off taking pictures, and you can see them below:

When we got up on deck, we could see Kicker Rock off the port side; we were heading right for it. When we got close to the rock, looking at it from the west, I took a panoramic view of the rock protruding above the waves; you can see that view below:

As we got close to Kicker Rock, the ship began to turn to starboard to go around the south end of the rock. We began to see the slope on the south side of the rock, and when we came around the south end of it, we could look right up the slope of Kicker Rock. You can see that view here.

The Iconic View of Kicker Rock

Kicker Rock (a.k.a. León Dormido) is the remains of a volcanic cone that has been eroded by the sea. Above the water, the monolithic rock formation towers over 500 feet above the Pacific Ocean and is home to a number of tropicbirds, blue-footed boobies and frigatebirds.

As we came around the south end of the rock and then cruised up the east side of it, each of us took a series of photographs in which you can see the rock turning in relation to the ship- until you reach that full-east, iconic view. Fred's series was the best, and you can click the thumbnails below, in sequence, to have a look:

But the true appeal of this location occurs below the surface of the sea. The natural erosion of this ancient cone has created a channel between the rocks that provides the ideal habitat to view a variety of sharks and rays including Spotted Eagle Rays, White-tip Reef sharks, the ellusive Galapagos Shark and Hammerheads. Sadly, there was no snorkeling excursion on our itinerary; perhaps this is because not only is this an area for more expert snorkelers, the true beauty of the undersea world here is actually best experienced with SCUBA gear.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

Now the ship came around the north end of Kicker Rock and back to a point pretty much where we had begun the circumnavigation. Again, each of took a series of pictures as we came around the rock, but this time it was Yoost's series that turned out best. I made a slideshow so you can see his pictures, in sequence, as Kicker Rock seemed to rotate in front of us.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at right and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

The trip around Kicker Rock took about an hour, and it was really neat to see this iconic Galapagos landmark from every conceivable angle.

Me, Fred, Greg, Linda and Ben

When we reached our starting point, the captain turned the ship west-northwest and we headed on over to Santa Cruz- the last island on our itinerary this week. As the ship made time towards its anchorage near that island, Kicker Rock receded into the distance behind us.

We went back into the Discovery Lounge for a while and finished our drinks, and then walked around the decks before dinner. We took a few good casual shots both before leaving Kicker Rock and during our walk, and you can click on the thumbnails below to see them:

The last picture of the day was taken just before we went down for dinner, when I asked Fred, Greg and Yoost to sit down with four women we had made friends with during the cruise. You can see that picture here.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	November 15, 2014: Santa Cruz Island
	November 13, 2014: Santa Cruz and North Seymour Islands
	Return to the Index for 2014