Vermillion Flycatcher
At this time of year the mountain regions of each Island tend to engulfed in cloud first thin in the morning, and with a bit of luck it burns off by lunchtime. The programme for today is either to spend the whole day going to a Tortoise breeding centre, Tintoreras (white tipped sharks and marine iguana area) and the wetlands (to see Flamingos), OR, go for a trail up Volcan Sierra Negra in the morning and cram those other three things into the afternoon. We opt for the latter.
The trail up to Santa Tomas in on the back of trucks - we were lucky, we had cushions, others were not quite so lucky. Particularly as the ride up was initially on tarmac roads but ended up for the last 20 minutes, beyond Santo Tomas, on dirt track roads - ouch. All the way there the top looked like it was in cloud. As we arrived at our parking place, we are only just in the cloud, but as we unload the cloud begins to blow away and within 10 minutes it is clear and we are bathed in hot sunshine - what luck.
The trail begins and we are rewarded almost instantly with a vermillion flycatcher perching on a nearby fence post then into a tree.
Vermillion Flycatcher
Other birds spotted on the way included cattle egrets and the ubiquitous Galapagos hawk. It was just as well we had these bits of interesting things because is was a fair old trek to the rim of the caldera - 2 miles as the vermillion flycatcher flies, according to the GPS. But, again, the sky stayed clear and we were treated to a grand view over the 2nd largest volcanic caldera in the world, at 7km side to side.
After about half an hour at the top it was time to head down - a walk of about an hour. En route we are treated to "the other" Galapagos flycatcher.
Galapagos Flycatcher
As we continue our descent then it becomes cooler as the clouds begin to wispily blow in. However, after only a few moments in the back of the luxury truck we are back in the sun and heading to town and lunch.
Lunch was in one of the restaurants in the town and I would like to say it was really nice, but it wasn't. One has to bear in mind, of course, that these otherwise small, quiet restaurants suddenly have to cater for about 35 people so allowances have to be made.
After lunch we began our lightning tour of the rest of Puerto Villamil...
We headed for the location where the flamingos would be - they weren't there so we tried an alternative location and they weren't there either. OK, so we'll leave them for the moment, and go on to the Tortoise Breeding Centre. This was quite a small set up with pens of the different sub-species of Giant Tortoise.
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Without sending someone into the pen with them, it is quite difficult to get a true impression of size - the guys above would be about 2 feet high. We then set off again and one eagle-eyed member of the truckers spotted a flamingo - the whole vehicle erupted with excitement. If truth be told we actually say a second flamingo, too.
Pink Flamingo
The last part of the lightning tour of Puerto Villamil was the Tintoreras - this was located on an Island in the bay. The crossing passed many boats with sea lions perched on them, some with as many as 5 or 6 lounging in the sun. The location with the sharks is a long channel, only about 6 feet across, and about 30 yards long, which, for some reason, the sharks like to swim up. It does give some aerial views of the sharks, though reflections do mess up photography a bit (especially when you leave the polarising filter at home).
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After returning to the village we had the option to go to the beach, back to the ship or back into town. We chose the town. As we drove in we passed the post office which looked open so we thought it would be a good time to buy some stamps. Although the door was open, and someone was in there serving (the elderly lady postmistress was replacing a battery in an elderly gentleman's watch - she had the watch in pieces on the counter and was experiencing great difficulty in making the bits fit together), as soon as we mentioned stamps then she told us she was closed for stamps - foiled again.
We ended the afternoon walking about the town and along the beach watching marine iguanas and crabs as the town closed down when the tourists left. The day has turned out much better that I had expected, but had the morning been clouded out I may have had something quite different to say.
We got back to the boat as the children of Villamil were beginning there little play on "The History of the Tortoise on the Galapagos". We gave it a miss, though I understand it was quite good (if you like cute kids).
Dinner tonight was interrupted by King Neptune with some complaint at us crossing the equator twice without his permission - I think it was somebody dressed up and not the real King Neptune. On the subject of crossing the equator, it is a shame that the boat always did this at night. It would have been nice to have passed across it during consciousness. The "King Neptune's Party" wasn't very well attended - most of the boat seems to go to bed straight after dinner, as most public areas are generally deserted during the evenings (except for the regular half dozen or so drinkers in the bar, which are mostly our Voyages Jules Verne group).
We stay up most nights to look at the southern skies which with the limited light pollution from the Islands and ship are quite remarkable, which usually meant getting to bed quite late.
