Last look at Galapagos

Sunday, June 2nd

The crew woke us at about 6 am by starting the engine to leave the buoy to which we apparently moored late last night, and motored around the cliffs of Daphne Major. By the time it was light we had our cups of tea and were perched on the top deck of Nemo with our binoculars and cameras, watching the early morning bird display. Blue and Nazca boobies still had their heads tucked under their snowy wings, but the pelicans had starting their morning ablutions, flapping their wings in the water and snapping up the odd fish. A few red billed tropic birds were fluttering offshore from the cliffs with the frigate birds in hot pursuit. In fact there was a cloud of frigate birds soaring on the updraft - we wondered how so many can be supported by their piracy mode of life. Some fur seals were comfortably curled up on the rocks between the nests of swallow tailed gulls. It was a lovely circuit of the island to say farewell to many of the wildlife we had become so familiar with, but I was very sad when we turned away to head towards the Itabaca Canal and the airport on Baltra.

 Nemo II

It was a wonderful week, seeing more wildlife at very close quarters than I had dreamed possible. It is really good to see the islands and their wildlife being so well cared for and appreciated, probably much more now than ever before. The tourist boats and visits to the islands are all strictly regulated, and we mostly had to keep to formed paths. Although fishing is restricted in some areas (where we snorkelled), there still must be a lot of fishing, judging by the amount of fish we ate during the week. At least I saw no evidence of potting or netting.

The Nemo crew provided an informative and comprehensive if busy schedule. They even put up the sails when possible to save fuel (but never actually turned the motor off)!

Now we were flying up to Quito to explore more of Equador: next stop - back down almost to sea level again in the Amazon Basin.