San Cristóbal Island (aka Isla de San Cristóbal and Chatham Island)

On the evening of Day 2 we moored at the Port of Baquerizo Moreno – the capital of the province Galapagos on San Cristóbal Island. Several crew also live on this Island and went ashore.

San Cristóbal comes from the patron saint of seafarers, St. Christopher. The traditional English name is Chatham Island, derived from William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham.

Early the next morning we went ashore and visited the Interpretation Center (they use US spelling). The Center gives and overview of the history of the Galapagos Islands.

Shortly after we entered the Center we saw Pepe a giant land tortoise, after which Galapagos is named. Pepe is believed to be from San Cristóbal Island. The Doc noticed Pepe was eating a plastic bag, he told Pato our guide. Pato entered the compound and removed the bag from the tortoise’s mouth. The wind must have blown it in. Plastic is normally a dangerous threat to sea turtles, but it was the tortoises turn this time. Pepe then started to walk, slowly, back over towards us to eat his fresh food. They do everything slow, but as they can live over 150 years they do not need to be in a rush. The oldest recorded life (at least the most reliable) was one in Australia called Harriet who lived to 175, and she died in 2005.

Pato told us, that Lonesome George (who died in June 2012) was NOT the last of his species. Lonesome George was from Pinta Island (Isla Pinta), each of the Islands having slightly different shaped shells. Genetic testing on San Cristóbal Island had revealed 17 other DNA matches with Lonesome George. Perhaps pirates or whalers had in the past moved some tortoises from Pinto Island. Problem is they discovered this after genetic testing about 1,200 tortoises as a group and now they need to find these 17 individuals. Perhaps Lonesome lives on.

Pinta Island English name is Abingdon Island, after the Earl of Abingdon. The Doc prefers the Spanish way of naming Islands. The Doc cannot find the origin of Pinta but perhaps it is named after one of the 3 ships Columbus used to discovered the Americas. The word Pinta. derives from Latin word pictus meaning painted, so perhaps it is the painted island!

The Doc spent some time reading about the creation of the islands and their wildlife. The first recorded visit to the islands was the Dominican Friar Fray Tomas de Berlanga in 1535 (he was the 4^th Bishop of Panama). He was on his way to Peru to settle a dispute but was becalmed and the currents took the ship out to the Galapagos Islands (that is a detour!) where he stumbled on the fire and brimstone of the Galapagos. My good friend the Dominican Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher OP will like that piece of history. OP stands for the Order of Preachers, who are also known as the Dominicans after their Founder St. Dominic Guzman, a Spaniard.

Bishop de Berlanga had landed on the western islands that are active volcanoes. He and the crew nearly died as they found fresh water hard to find. Eventually they escaped, but the impression was not good. Having visited the non active Islands The Doc can understand such a view, the Islands can indeed be dry, desolate and foreboding. Do not always believe all the greenery you see in BBC documentaries.

It was time to visit the walkways at the Center, around the grounds you might say. The Doc got over enthusiastic and arrived back at the meeting point a few minutes late. Sorry guys.

The beach with the red and white maritime beacon is called Punta Carola (Carol Point) and also Love Beach. Love Beach because it waves appeal to surfers. Only a small amount of sand is visible in my photo.

Then we spent a couple of hours walking around the Port of Baquerizo Moreno. The Doc took a few decent panoramas here with a Sony Point & Shoot. Sea Lions even take over the benches in the middle of town. Lounging around as if they owned the place. The Doc even saw one young female with a shark bite on her neck, but she lived to see another day.

Isla Lobos (aka Sea Lion Island)

In the afternoon we visited Isla Lobos or Sea Lion Island. Isla Lobos is located up the coast from Wreck Bay and Puerto Baquerizo north of San Cristóbal Island. Not surprisingly it has a colony of sea lions, blue footed boobies and frigate birds fly over head. It was here that the highlight event of the trip took place, at least for The Doc.

We all had lunch, took a short break and then geared up for snorkelling. Those not swimming went out on the Paparazzi boat.

We were warned about one territorial male sea lion and told not to swim near his territory. Mostly they just snarl at you, but this one can attack we were warned.

The Doc was snorkelling, although not taking any photos. It was a nice place to snorkel. Playing with the sea lions was great. They play a game were they swim at your face and turn at the last minute. It takes a little time to get use too. We snorkelled for about 2 hours, saw some rays and, fish but mostly sea lions. One female played with us for some time. Eventually we needed to get out. We had a landing on Isla Lobos at 4pm.

Back to the Millennium, a quick shower, a change of cloths and then onto the Zodiacs for the dry landing on Isla Lobos. But first the crew had to scare away the sea lions sunning all over the landing dock, a fancy name for a small concrete jetty. There were sea lions everywhere, and a creche of young sea lions next to the jetty. It took several minutes for us all to land. First stop the sea lions, then onto the blue footed boobies and marine iguanas. The ever present frigate birds were circulating above looking to harass other seabirds.

At about 4.30pm an adult blue footed boobie returned to feed its chick. The chicks were large and not far from flying, perhaps a week or two. We had a great an opportunity to photograph a chick being feed!

We were photographing the feeding when all hell broke loose, the frigate birds circulating above plunged down to steal the fish, suddenly appearing in our camera view finders – a tangle of black feathers mugging the chick. A battle took place between the chick and the frigate birds for a few minutes and eventually it swallowed the prize. Round 1 to the boobies.

If you look closely the boobies are feed with the parent’s head over over the chick, presumably trying to shield the chick from attacks. But the frigates birds will attack the chick once the transfer occurs. A very public lynching as the photos show.

A few minutes later another adult blue footed boobie returned. This time we knew what was about to happen. Another epic battle took place between the boobies and the frigate birds (modern day Galapagos Pirates), but the frigates won this time. You can see in one photo that the blue footed boobie parent looks helplessly on. The chick went hungry that night. Boobies 1, frigate birds 1. The high point of the trip for The Doc.

Enjoy the photos.