The entire boat rose at 5:45 am to catch the sunrise...unfortunately our boat drifted behind a large rock just as the sun made its debut. Darn rock. At preciesely 6:29 am we left the boat for a hike across North Seymore island. Here birds soar overhead and blue footed boobies color the desert terrain. This island is home to flocks of black frigate birds. During mating season the males sport a tomato-red, eggplant-sized balloon underneath their beaks. I longed to go poke one with my index finger, like those kids poke the pillsbury dough boy in cookie commericals, but touching animals is strictly forbidden, of course. I don´t think I really want to know the precise content of those sacks either.
Half of our boat mates concluded their trip in the Galapagos today. I made the British girls give me a lesson in British English prior to their departure. It was great. When someone´s ¨got a cob on¨ he or she is in a bad mood, and a jacket is not a jacket but a ¨jumper¨, and a bathing suit is not a bathing suit but a ¨swim costume.¨ I love it. Once they left, a new crew joined the boat and we set sail for a wild mangrove tree adventure. I felt like I was on the jungle boat cruise at Disneyland. Rough murky waters quickly gave way to a quiet, deep green sea lagoon where giant sea turtles glided beneath the boat, pelicans caapaulted into the water beside us, white tip sharks raced by, puffer fish popped and hissed as they splashed out of the water, and sea lions belched. The sun beat down on my back and I dodged mangrove tree branches. Rachel being the desginated photographer (as she never found a replacement camera) snapped pictures while I remained focused on shooing away mosquitoes. What an adventure. It was truly the jungle boat cruise come to life.
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