Tortuga Bay - Galapagos Day 1
I started my day with a massive headache. However, after a lovely breakfast I was good as new. The weather was chilly and cloudy, but I thought going to the beach was still a good idea. I had read that it was only a 15 minute walk from my hotel, but we had done a lot of walking lately so I asked for a taxi. This was a great decision. It only cost $1.50 and there were so many twists and turns, I was glad I didn't try it on my own.
At then entrance to Tortuga Bay, you stop and sign in, but it's free. Then you walk along a brick path for 25 minutes or so while you watch little lizards pretend you are not there. The birds fly right overhead and don't mind getting their picture taken (stay at least 6ft away). There are really tall tree-like cacti everywhere and the finches use them for food and habitat. The end of the trail opens up to a beautiful beach scene. Really incredible. The sand is white and pristine. The park offers little wooden hangers for you to hang your things. The water is comfortable even though it is the cold season here. Fierce and I went to the lava rocks to the left or "beginning" and discovered hundreds of crabs clickity-clacking all around. Then we sat in the water and let the waves roll up onto and past us. There was just enough pressure to make this really fun. He told me this was the best day of his life.
A little later, we walked past the surfing area where you are not allowed to swim because it is dangerous to a little water hole. It's made from the rocks holding back the ocean :) Anyways, it is calm and the little kids loved it. The iguanas sunbathe on the rocks just behind this water hole and then go for a swim into the water where they eat algae and cool off. They walk right past you on the beach under the cover of the mangrove trees and then swim past whoever is in the water. It was a really fun thing to witness.
Further on, we found another long stretch of beach where the bay is very calm. We walked all the way to the other end because we spotted Kayaks and were pretty excited to try them out. We rented a two person Kayak. We meandered along the left side and saw a shark fin, lots of crabs and even saw a bird catch a fish, bring it to land and eat it. When you cut across the middle of the bay we were told to look for turtles and we did see two of them poke their heads out and say hello. Along the right side we slowed to check out a Blue Footed Booble Bird only a few feet away up on the rocks. It never stood up to show off it's feet, but he was really cute. We were almost all the way back when we discovered four white tip sharks by the mangrove trees about 10ft from the shore. So cool! We circled back a couple times to see them again. After we turned in our kayak, I convinced Fierce to go snorkeling, but the water was too cloudy so you couldn't see anything under water, but if you stood up the sharks were only a few feet away. Seeing the sharks was a big win either way.
We decided to pack it up and take a boat back to town for dinner. The ride was pretty bumpy, I enjoyed catching Fierce's eyes go big as he clutched his chair a little tighter. Although I wanted to sit down at a restaurant, Fierce wanted to try some street food so I ordered a pork sandwich for him and a corn flour fried something or other stuffed with chicken and then she sliced it open and added salad and spicy salsa. It was awesome!!! There was an ice cream store across the street and it didn't take any convincing for me to say yes to that request.
Back at the hotel, Fierce dipped in the pool and then we both watched the last ten minutes of the Brazil vs. Ecuador Futbol game on the pool deck TV. It was a fun day and I have a feeling Fierce and I might make it back to Tortuga Bay before we leave.
