Day 1, Cerro Mesa: 29 November 2013
We were transported to highlands to explore Cerro Mesa. The day was miserable, misty and wet. The new Guide could have been better and the locations were not great. It does not help we just finished a great sea trip, perhaps the expectations were too high. No new members joined the group for this trip, just leavers. Perhaps that weighed on us a little as well.
We went to a large sink hole at Cerro Mesa and then did some macro work in bush. A little out of The Doc’s comfort zone. The Doc was hoping to get shot of a male vermilion flycatcher. No luck and all up not a productive day. This happens.
The Doc cannot work out whether one shot is a female vermilion flycatcher, but he does like his chances. So lets move to the next day.
Day 2, South Plaza Island: November 2013
For the next 3 days we will be doing trips on the Narel 1, a much smaller boat than the Millennium. Our guide is Jaime, pronounced in English as Hymie (as in the robot from Get Smart 🙂 ). He was a great guide like Pato. A bus picks us up at the Hotel Solymar and we are transported to the other side of Santa Cruz Island to where the boats moor. It is also the ferry terminal across to Baltra Airport.
We board the Narel. It is a 1 hour 20 minute run to South Plaza Island, or Isla Plaza Sur. The Doc photographed a pelican and a white tailed tropic bird on the way over. They are nice shots considering the boat moving about a bit. Bill, in our group, lost his hat to the wind (Jaimie had warned us). It was the first one lost, but not the last one.
South Plaza may sound familiar, as we visited it on Day 2, the second visit allows us to target new shots or improve the shots we have. We walk anti clockwise around the Island this time.
The Doc got some shots of the land iguanas, gulls and white tailed tropic birds. We saw the frigate birds attacking white tailed tropic birds, dangling them in the air, hoping for the food to be regurgitated so they could steal it. Heavy crop on these photos, so they are a bit blurry. They were just too far away from the cliffs.
The Doc got the lava gulls in flight and some petrels on the water below the cliffs. The Doc failed to get any in flight shots close in of these birds on the Island.
Sharks spotted
Sharks were spotted patrolling the waters around South Plaza looking for young inexperienced sea lions. An older sea lion appeared to be warning others of the danger.
Back at the landing point there was an amorous bull seal after a female. They frolicked around and suddenly she headed for the jetty and jumped up on it. After a short time she jumped off the other side after over the jetty into another male’s territory.
Lunch was served, a very good one from such a small kitchen. Literally the cook could not turn around it was so small, tiny.
Punta Carrion
Then off snorkelling at Punta Carrion. A small inlet on Baltra Island on the way back to port. A sheltered spot but not that productive. The Doc saw a giant toad fish, a shark and some school fish.
It was a short trip back to port and then home by bus. The channel of water between Santa Cruz and Baltra Islands is known as the Itabaca Channel. We past though the waterway several times during our trip, mostly in the Narel.
