Musings

There’s no such thing as too many beautiful sunrises.

Juice every morning, and every morning a different fruit. This may be what everyone called tree tomato. I just checked the internet, and in New Zealand it’s called tamarillo. It’s in the Solanaceae family, and is Solanum betaceum. Now I know.

Right after breakfast, we had a wet landing on Santa Fe Island. The sea lions were just becoming active.

This was a short walk to see these giant-size opuntias. The pads are not tasty to humans, but are the favorite of land iguanas.

Right on schedule, here’s a large male land iguana.

And another.

Back on the Grace, the crew lowered kayaks and the pangas took us to a good kayaking spot.

After that, we changed into wet suits for a snorkeling expedition. Again, no photos of these two activities. Salt water, you know.

After lunch, I spotted this hitchhiker. Another came and ousted it.

Dry landing on South Plaza island, and a slow 90-minute loop. Nocturnal gull.

Marine iguana. Note longer narrow tail, used as a paddle in the water. Also, the land iguana’s tails are more rounded on the bottom, a good tip if you find their tracks.

A finch busy looking for…seeds, I think.

Little lava lizard…little compared to the iguanas. On the “trunk” of one of the tall opuntias.

Land iguana profile. Those neck spikes draw my eye every time.

The iguanas have so aggressively dined on the opuntias on the west end of South Plaza that the park folk have planted new ones, with these protective cages. Still, they have had to replant and replant, as the small opuntias are easier for the iguanas to climb and access the pads, as you might guess. Even with the protective cages.

Sun is cruising down, although it’s still an hour and a half to sunset.

Sous Chef Washington’s tiramisu was a resounding success. Several of us thought it the best we’d ever had.

Did you catch that we did a walk, a kayak ride, and a snorkeling expedition all before lunch? I have never changed my clothing so many times day after day in my life.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Enough iguanas?

Up with the dawn.

And saw the sunrise. We traveled overnight to Floreana Island, and anchored offshore.

That’s our yacht, Grace, in the background. We were ferried to shore in pangas, and with the many activities today, we’ll become very familiar with various ways and situations relevant to entering and exiting a panga, Galápagos style.

Our first excursion was before breakfast, a quick trip to the local post office, old style. Sailors used to stop here and leave mail for a later ship going in the appropriate direction, and collect mail for whomever they could deliver to. We left a few postcards in the spirit of this continuing instituion, and some folks took one to deliver. The delivery is meant to be done in person. This is especially ironic as the postal service for Ecuador has been closed as a cost-cutting measure, leaving DHL and FedEx as options.

Returning to the Grace. Next we were instructed about kayaking and snorkeling. I have no photos of these activities. Too close to salt water. I have now been on my first kayak ride. The Grace carries eight two-seater kayaks, enough for all clients to go at once. Most of us did. Saw green tortoises in the water and sea lions and blue footed boobies on land. Among others.

A quinoa croquette, our lunch starter. Lunch was followed by re-donning our wet suits, hoods, and neon life vests for a deep-water snorkeling experience among some volcanic formations that spear the sky (very vertical and craggy).

Our late afternoon activity was a nature walk on Floreana. Here, we’re headed for our landing place.

We started into the interior of the island and skirted this brackish pond. I saw several pink flamingoes with binoculars on the far side. Genetically, the flamingoes here are most similar to ones in the Caribbean.

We kept walking and popped out on a beach on the opposite side of the island, just in time to witness a bit of a feeding frenzy. Several sharks, diving frigate birds, and rays.

We enjoyed our meet and greet of the staff tonight. Yesterday was too complicated to insert that important activity, although you would expect it on Day One. The crew showed up in their dress uniforms, all white and starched. We attempted our most formal wear. The social director, one very lovely and super-helpful Scarlett (yes, named after Atlanta’s Scarlett) introduced each of the crew members and detailed their responsibilities, and then we introduced ourselves to them.

Previously, I didn’t know who the captain was, and was looking forward to seeing him. I was surprised to discover I had spoken to him several times during panga entrance and exit activities, and he had sprayed my feet with clean water after a snorkeling expedition. Rather egalitarian, ¿no?

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Busy on sea and land

Took the hotel shuttle to the airport, and went through special bureaucratic hoops to initiate our entrance into the Galápagos province. Our flight was on an Airbus, with new seats. And new vocabulary: código QR and rodaje. The latter means when taxi-ing.

Here’s our plane disgorging tourists (and a few locals). We found more bureaucratic hoops in the terminal, nothing that wasn’t solved by standing in line and presenting documents.

However, the airport is on Baltra, and we wanted to be on Santa Cruz, and there were many sturdy ferries to move us…

…and our luggage across the Itabasca channel. Yes, that’s the boat we rode in, and that’s our luggage on the roof. Darned sturdy roof.

Our first stop was a turtle sanctuary, where we ate lunch. Having gotten out of bed at 4:40, and it being after one (plus one time zone change), during which time we had little food and no coffee…we were darned glad to tuck into a superb spread cooked by the chef and team from our yacht, Grace. After dining, we donned lovely rubber boots, and took a stroll.

Here’s one of our two guides helping us understand the intricacies of tortoise life, love, and subsistence.

Most of the tortoises we saw were large males, which are typically about three times the size of the females.

We even got to see a lava tube. These are volcanic islands, like the Hawaiian archipelago, but much, much smaller.

Refreshed and excited from many turtle sightings, we bussed through Puerto Ayora to the harbor.

Right by where we put on our life jackets, a pregnant mama sea lion was zoned out while her very large offspring was dining on all milk s/he could extract.

Fascinating feet. Flippers.

We rode on pangas (dinghies) out to the Grace. Wonderful to have arrived at our home-for-a-week. Gorgeous sunset over Puerto Ayora.

And a giant moon in the opposite direction. This is the largest yacht allowed to ferry tourists in Galápagos waters. It has 100 guests. The Grace hosts sixteen.

Reminder: when the post time is 10:22 pm, it was posted at some point after the day it is dated.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Making tracks

First daylight view from our window, second floor. You can’t see the airport runways, a bit off to the right.

And here’s the hotel, viewed from over an irrigation channel.

Lupin, bush form—I think the seeds were/are harvested.

Didn’t recognize this. Online info suggests an Dalea species, perhaps Dalea coerulea.

Boulevard development appears to be stalled.

More lot development needed.

An older neighborhood. Note vacas.

Abandoned house. Note emptiness behind windows.

A more successful neighborhood.

Veggie operation, looks like beans.

Almost back to the hotel. That large bush on the right is a castor bean (Ricinus communis)—called a bean, yet not a Fabaceae bean, as in the field above. Do not eat castor beans.

Hotel flower. You knew I had to include a flower close-up.

Expect no posts for eight(ish) days. I’ll delay-post when I return to internet accessibility. Me, spouse, hat, masks, etc are headed west to Pacific isles aka the Galápagos.

Posted at 5:05 PM | 2 Comments »

We went from the land of English English English…

…to Spanish, with English subtitles. Also, we’re south of the Equator. Not far south, but still.

Posted at 10:19 PM | Comments Off on Gran transición

Year in and year out, I do a fair amount of packing. It’s usually for the same pair of destinations, and is pretty darned straightforward—at this point, after years and years.

Now, I’m packing for an anomaly, both in terms of destination and in terms of activities to be undertaken. Still working on details…but there’s time to get everything ironed out. Yay.

Posted at 8:40 PM | Comments Off on Cycles do change now and then

The corollary of flying with only carry-ons is that all liquid containers have to fit in a single sandwich bag. This one needs repacking; something has to go to make room for an item that isn’t here. Patience.

Posted at 8:37 PM | Comments Off on Trial

Gauzy shadows. If I ever write poetry, I may use that phrase.

Posted at 8:42 PM | Comments Off on If…

Depending on how you count we received shot number 4 (of all covid shots) or shot number 2 (of booster shots) today.

I understand the labs are reformulating the shots that will be available this autumn to take into account recent variants. That means I’ll have a shot number 5, probably before the end of the year.

Also, today was chili day! Actually chili day number 2, as we had the first round yesterday. But with guac not avocado chunks. Variation is the spice of chili, you know.

Posted at 8:35 PM | 1 Comment »

Regular readers are aware that we typically reside in one of two locations: inner ATL and way northern Michigan. Like many households, we use Amazon to order a miscellaneous assortment of items now and then. We are well aware that delivery in the far north may take five days, sometimes four, and rarely less, while here in ATL, we may receive items ordered in the morning that evening, or, sometimes, that afternoon. This warehouse perhaps accelerates our ATL deliveries…as it’s on the southeast side of the metro.

The title refers to the text on a truck we saw a month or so ago. I read it as supply chair whatever, and mused upon this confusing message to The Guru, who said, dryly, it’s supply chain; the locking mechanism is altering the n and making it look like an r. Silly me. Smart Guru.

Posted at 5:51 PM | Comments Off on Supply chair