Day 5: Santa Cruz - Dragon Hill - Friday January 26th 2018
Today we had a 4am start. After meeting the rest of the tourists in the hotel lobby we were taken back to Quito airport for our 06:50 flight (via Guayaquil) to Baltra in the Galapagos Islands. We got off to a good start when found our first new bird - Galapagos Dove - while walking from the plane to the terminal building and our first Darwin's Finches while waiting for the whole team to retrieve their bags. We were met at the airport by our Naturalist guide, Rissel and transferred from the airport to the quay by bus and then by a zodiac-type inflatable boat, referred to by Rissel as a "panga"*, to The Beluga our "superior first-class" motor yacht - which would be our home for the next two weeks. After some introductions we were shown to our cabins. Ours was below the main deck (but above the waterline) and contained a double-bed with bedside cupboards and a wardrobe with a separate private WC and shower room. With a certain amount of craning of the neck we could see out of our small port-hole in the bedroom and rather more easily out of the small porthole in the shower (until it became steamed up when showering). We didn't enter any of the other cabins, but it looked like at least 4 of them were similar to ours. The cabins at the back of the boat, leading from the dining area had the rear and outside walls entirely glazed, providing a far superior outlook. However, we spent few of the daylight hours in the cabin and we slept very comfortably.
*A "panga" is a medium-sized open, outboard-powered, fishing boat with a high bow and a flotation bulge (not usually inflatable) along the gunwale; the term comes from the Panga fish caught in South African waters - why the "panga-ride" has become the term for transportation in inflatable boats between ship and shore in the Galapagos remains mysterious to me.
*A "panga" is a medium-sized open, outboard-powered, fishing boat with a high bow and a flotation bulge (not usually inflatable) along the gunwale; the term comes from the Panga fish caught in South African waters - why the "panga-ride" has become the term for transportation in inflatable boats between ship and shore in the Galapagos remains mysterious to me.
From Baltra we cruised to a landing site on the NW of Santa Cruz - Dragon Hill. Alison and I adopted a cruising position on (usually) shaded comfortable seats at the front of the boat, with occasional excursions to the sun-deck at the back of the boat to see what was flying in the wake. We were soon joined by an entourage of Frigatebirds and quickly added Elliot's Storm-petrel and Galapagos Shearwater to our list
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On land we came across a mix of shore zone and arid zone habitats. We saw our first Galapagos Flycatchers, Galapagos Mockingbirds, Cactus Finches, Marine Iguanas and Lava Lizards. There were also some saline lagoons which contained a few waders. The landscape showed a mix of black and rusty volcanic rock, sand and water and was generally beautiful.