Farewell lunch and dinner

 

Saturday afternoon, June 1st

Lunch today, our last full day, was an Ecuadorian special with ceviche soup and battered guinea pig (coy), large puffy white kernels of native corn as well as fish braised in coconut sauce, served by our friendly steward, Ernesco.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch there was time for the usual short siesta for some, while others took their last chance to read one of the ship’s library books local on birds, fish, reptiles or volcanos.

Then we headed over to Darwin's Cove for a wet landing and walk on the lava behind the cove. The white beach was coral sand with lots of broken coral pieces. There used to be quite a lot of coral reef around the island, especially on Darwin and Wolf islands, until they were devastated by the warm currents in the last two severe El Niño events. Now only about 3% of the reef remains – large dull grey boulders.  

 

Behind the beach were some inlets with clear pools where yellow-crowned night herons roosted beside the tide pools that would be replenished when the 2 m tide rose.

Swallow tailed gulls

 

Large cactus bushes grew against the cliffs, many with yellow flowers. More red footed bobbies and frigates were nesting here, and also a lot of handsome swallow tail gulls. It was interesting watching their courtship displays and nest building activities.  

Back at the beach we changed into our snorkelling gear and snorkelled around the edge of the rocks, seeing some lovely spotted eagle rays feeding and a larger mottled ray. Drew saw some rays and sharks from his kayak, and a pair of sharks apparently followed us into the beach, where they could be seen from the rocks swimming in the shallows just where we had been swimming! They were probably Galápagos sharks since they had no white or black tips. (I have since learned that they were the most dangerous of all the sharks, even more than the hammerhead!)

 

Back on the boat, quite a large shark could be seen swimming under the boat, waiting for food scraps or the unwary swimmer?

 

All the crew dressed in their whites for our farewell dinner, toasting us with a fruit cocktail, followed by turkey, pickled pork and a special chocolate cake. Meanwhile Diego had coached us on what we were expected to give as tips to him and the crew, and gave us their evaluation form. The $40 bill for a bottle of ordinary Chilean wine was a nasty surprise. No wonder all the passengers had been very restrained in their alcohol intake, apart from the occasional beer.

Hollyand David, both entomologists from South Dakota Univerisity, and Patricia, Jenny's cabin-mate and an engineer from California, shared the table with Jenny, Drew and Jane.

Then the anchor was raised and we headed back across the equator to the Southern Hemisphere towards Daphne island, close to Baltra island and the airport. As on most evenings, passengers retired early as the ship stared to roll in the open swells. I had a last look up on deck before retiring, to see if I could see the lava gulls feeding at night, lit up by the lights of the ship, and enjoy the stars above and phosphorescence below in our wake.