Sea Turtle Saviors and Fulfilled Penguin Dreams

Throughout this journey, there are events which either subtly or more strongly assault your intellect. You know coming here that this is all about nature. But most of us are insulated from the realities of nature – the closest we come is a National Geographic special, or perhaps the zoo or what we encounter on hikes near our home. We rarely are brought face-to-face with life and death struggles, and how much animals will sacrifice to maintain the species. In Galapagos, it’s everywhere, and in unexpected ways. Each experience changes you, whether you cheer the triumph, feel for the struggle between endemic and foreign species, or feel your heart pain when the battle is lost.

Today is a triumphant day.

The morning activities were both centered around Bachas Beach, with the option to also head inland on a flamingo search at the brackish ponds. This beach is a turtle nesting site, which ended up to be the focus of the excursion, as the naturalists found a female who was stuck in her struggle to return to the water after her night of laying eggs. While it is prohibited to interfere with animals in the Galapagos, as nature needs to play out in her own way, the naturalists here felt it wasn’t interfering to bring this female out of where she was stuck, so she could then make her own way back to the ocean.

They combined their strength to gently lift and turn her, bringing her to an area where she could, if she wasn’t already too weak, drag herself to the sea. To everyone’s relief and excitement, she immediately started her journey back to the sea. It was a moment of exultation and celebration. She was weak, but she now had a chance!




The afternoon choices were very different, though they all ended with beach/snorkeling time. Those who were fit and eager climbed “to the top” at Bartolome Island, up 358 wooden steps to the top of the island for an incredible view. Not so eager to do the climb? There was a fantastic zodiac option where we circled the island, observing the Galapagos Penguins on the shore, mantas jumping in the distance, and searched for sharks in the shallows. It was an absolutely beautiful boat ride, full of sightings. I think we counted almost all the penguins known to be in the area! What a treat!

After the first half of our excursions, everyone met at the beach to sun, play in the water… or if you were a snorkeler, to go over to Pinnacle Rock to find the penguins. We weren’t disappointed! Because it was late afternoon, the penguins were in and out of the water, hunting and diving, and they were zooming past those who made the swim over to see them.

The personal thrill for me is beyond words. Ever since seeing the penguins in the water from the beach during my Antarctic cruise, I’ve been dreaming of being in the water with them. I feared I’d have to learn how to dry suit dive and brave the Antarctic waters in order to accomplish that, but here was my dream coming true. When I learned there was a chance to snorkel with them I was excited, but the actuality far exceeded my hopes. Not only was I able to see them, they came zooming by me VERY close, and repeatedly. The light was low, the water was murky, but I got some shots which, while technically leaving much to be desired, will continue to make me smile for years to come.

This was Pinnacle Rock itself, with several penguins resting atop it. Sorry for the odd coloring – I had a red filter on my lens to enhance the underwater colors, and it was difficult to get the color correction right for the above-water shots – and it didn’t help at all that we were facing into the setting sun.


Yes, there are several penguins on the rocks. You can make out the one on the left fairly easily, but there were three more in the shadows as well.

Not only were the penguins zooming by, but there was a pelican hunting at the surface as well. Look closely here – you can see the pelican’s beak and feet along with a penguin just coming into the frame in the lower right corner. Both were less than 12” away from my lens.


Because the conditions were so extreme (very dark underwater because of the murk and low light, very bright above with the setting sun), a split shot was not able to be perfectly (or even close to acceptably) exposed. But as bad as these shots are technically, look at what you can see topside and underwater (look closely – there be penguins there!)

A penguin just zooming by – gotta love continuous shooting!





To get a sense of the speed of these penguins, my camera is capable of shooting 3 frames per second. So that series above took less than two seconds for him to completely swim by with me panning as he swam. They’re quick little critters!

For the photographers reading this, yes, I could have used strobes in these shots. But I opted not to, in order to be able to take the faster, continuous images, and also because of all the particulate in the water. Had I been on scuba rather than snorkel, I might have used dual strobes to capture the color better. But at these depths, in these conditions with the fast-moving subjects, I decided this was the better option for me.

Why were the penguins and pelicans here? For the fish of course!





Yup, more penguins in the bottom two shots there.

On the way back to the beach, a couple sharks were also sighted – just small white tips, but exciting none-the-less.

What a day! But it wasn’t over. Tonight, we celebrate a somewhat-traditional Crossing the Line ceremony (though toned down a bit from the more ribald antics common on naval ships). During this cruise, we actually cross the line 4 times, but this particular crossing was timed so we could enjoy and celebrate it after dinner. So much fun! I’ve gone over the equator many times, but never before onboard ship, and was looking forward to the ceremony – it didn’t disappoint! King Neptune, of course, was in evidence, along with his queen, and the antics ensued. At the end, we all got our certificate so we can now say we’ve been inducted into the Society by King Neptune.

This was one of the few nights when most passengers stayed up after dinner. Usually, it got almost immediately quiet after dinner, with a few of the teens staying up, and a few adults heading for a nightcap. Definitely not a ship for night owls, as even I was usually in bed long before 11PM. But it was nice almost every evening to have one after dinner drink either in the lounge or up on the top deck. While the upper deck “Blue Finch Bar” never opened at night, even though it was mentioned in the daily program, the bartenders from the main lounge were more than happy to bring up the drinks to us. The bar was a bit understaffed this cruise, but they made up for it with enthusiasm.

Overall onboard there were several new crew, as some of the more experienced crew were rotating on and off, and since they’re all local, there were occasionally a few glitches with service, but never once could you fault their attitude or desire to take care of you.