Galapagos Day Day #5

I have forgotten to mention - - - THERE ARE NO MOSQUITOS! ! ! ! that was the biggest health concern that the travel medicine people told us about. So, great news!
We are back on our regular schedule now, up at 5 – 5:30. I know, weird. We had plenty of time to have coffee and tea and breakfast before the longer hike this morning. We hiked on the northwestern coast of Isabella Island. This is the biggest one, shaped a little like a seahorse, if you look at a map. We went along a sort of lava coast, and then inland for awhile. We saw our final type of iguana – the land iguana. This animal is very solitary – not the big piles we’ve gotten used to seeing. Also, they are very a very pale, yellowish color. Incredible to see them just strolling/plodding along. We saw several, and none of them were thrilled to see us. We, however, were thrilled to see them. The camera equipment on this trip is pretty amazing – everything from point and shoots to major cases of cameras/lenses/video/etc.
On the inland portion of the hike, we spotted a tortoise, out on her own, in the bushes ! ! ! She was a young (?!?!) one, our naturalist told us, around 25 years old! This was a very hot hike, even though it was early morning.
In the afternoon, Brett went snorkeling again and I went on a zodiac ride, into the mangrove coves and estuaries. The “Able Seaman” (driver of the boat) turned the engine off in the various coves, and we just floated along, watching for animals. TONS of turtles, many varieties of fish, and most impressive, three kinds of rays – several huge manta rays, and group of five golden rays and what looked like a leopard ray (I can’t remember the name)! !! The naturalist told us that he had once seen a group of about 40 golden rays – it looked like a golden carpet on the surface!!! A different zodiac group saw a flamingo! ! ! Brett was continuing to look for the elusive seahorses, but they continued to be elusive. Too bad, but he saw sea urchins with spines about 6 inches long!! Plus a huge variety of fish! ! !
Finally, stargazing in the Southern Hemisphere!! What a day!!!
Adios!!