Day 168, Year 1: The Day of the Flamingo
Date: Monday, April 3, 2006
Weather: Cloudy Day . . . and, it actually rained!
Location: Puerto Villamil, Isabella Island, Galapagos
It is the hot season here, which is also the rainy season. But we have seen very little rain since we left the Caribbean. Today, however, it actually rained for an hour or so. It was cloudy all day with a little clearing in the late evening. That is the big weather news for today.
Mark and I got up early and went with Sylvia and Doug from Windcastle to the tortoise hatchery run by the National Park. It is similar to the Darwin Center in Puerto Ayoro, but actually we thought it was a little more user friendly. The Darwin Center has Lonesome George, but the center here has done a nice job of providing natural environments for the tortoises while still allowing them to be displayed. We took a taxi out to the center, but we walked their nature trail back to town. About halfway back, we came upon a lagoon with about four flamingos. They are so unbelievably pink! We hope to see more of these special birds later in the week.
Just as we returned to town, the sprinkles started. We decided to stop in one of the sidewalk cafes for a late breakfast before continuing our journey. We then went to check-in with the port captain and told Sylvia and Doug we would meet them in the internet café® We had also made arrangements to meet a guide in a local restaurant at lunch time to make plans for our volcano trip tomorrow. We had planned to be in town just for a couple of hours, but one thing led to another and we ended up returning to the boat very late in the afternoon with just enough time to get ready to go back to the dock for dinner at the Club Nautico run by Henry and his wife Marianna, the couple who took us to Cabo Rosa yesterday.
Heather and Jed came into town around noon to join us, and when we returned to the boat in the evening, they both decided to jump in for a quick swim and sea water “bath”. Just as they were ready to go in, Heather called down for Mark and I to come up into the cockpit. There were flamingos flying through the anchorage and they were quite a sight to see. Somehow you don’t expect to see bright pink birds flying in the sky, but they do and they are beautiful. And this comes from a person who has a pink phobia.
Tomorrow will be the day of the volcano. We will be riding in a truck to the highlands, riding horses up to the rim of the Sierra Negra volcano, and then walking around the rim to Volcan Chino. This volcano still has some steaming sink holes. It should be another fascinating day here in the Galapagos islands.
 |
| 060403 Day 168 Galapagos Isabella–Giant Tortoise Breeding Center |
