Peru & Ecuador. Machu Picchu and a Galapagos cruise with a side of southern USA

[Gladstone Tim]

Loving this smckay …the insights, reflections and experiences. Thank you!

 

[smckay]

Day 17 - Saturday

What a night. Rock and roll most of the night. Plus engine noise. Plus waves crashing against the hull. No sleep in Cabin 3.

When researching this cruise I did notice a number of catamarans on offer, and forum talk seemed to prefer them. I can now say that I think a cat is going to be less affected by the small swells that are pretty well present all over the Islands. Little things like moored for meals the boat will have a side to side rock that does get to me some times, especially as we’ve only been on decent sized ships previously.

But the Cat fleet seem to be lower rent propositions with itineraries that didn’t suit.

No breakfast set up today due to the Stupid O’clock start but we did get poor muzac played too loud at 0530.

Up and at them as they say so by 0600 14 of the 16 pax (the French females have declined all water sports) were on the back deck suited up to swim with the fishes at Chinese Hat off the Island of Santiago. Which is very aptly named.


If you are Snorkelling at this time, the dumb thing to do is to put a test finger or hand in to the water to assess the temperature. So, being dumb I tested the water. And as the memes go, it was at that time he realised he had stuffed up.

Last one in the water and it was very refreshing. But the water life was good and we saw many fishes, sea lions, and topography.

We were in about an hour floating, swimming and looking and by the time we returned back to the boat I was cold enough to get in the shower. Except said shower contained MrsMacca who protested the intrusion.

Breakfast was then served which was a leisurely affair as all we had to do today was to go and gas up the boat back in Baltra. Our Naturalist gave a talk on the evolution of Galapagos which I half tuned into and then it was lunch time.

Today we had beef roast, pork riblets, chicken pieces and some rather tasty smoked jalapeño sausages. Plus salads and cheese.

The chef excels with his salads, they are always fresh, very tasty and not really repeated.

The meats were all tender.

During lunch the top 1% turned up. If not familiar with the term top 1%, seek out Kennedy Steve on YouTube.


After the boat was fed and so too the passengers, we then went over to Santa Cruz Island for a bit of a Zodiac ride through the mangroves. This was better than expected as the drivers shut off the engines and then paddled us around for an hour or so. We saw turtles, baby sharks and fishes.

Coming out of the cover we sat and watched the Blue Footed coughies feeding. These are quite large birds that cruise the skies at heights of about 50-100 metres and when they spot a fish they dive and go straight into the water. Quite impressive when you see both the action and the speed.

After 2 hours we were back to the boat for briefing and dinner but not before watching a romantic sunset.

Treats provided today were empanadas with a choice of chicken (which looked and tasted like beef) and cheese.

Dinner was Italian themed- spaghetti, meatballs, salads but no garlic bread.

It was also awkward for some. Turns out Ernesto our German self-confessed bird nerd can speak fluent French and after one of the French ladies got in his photo zone he dropped a pleasant ‘thank you’ in French.

Which escalated into a bit of a word match with husbands defending ladies honour and accusations of photo real estate being corrupted by each other. This was relayed to us after the fact by Ernesto so we missed all the action.

Knowing this I tried to manipulate the table we had been sitting at to have 2 chairs free but the others were happily ignorant of the emerging international crisis and Ernesto and his wife had to sit amongst the least favourite group.

It’s been a bit of a trend to try to avoid seats at the unFrench table but now it’s become a pro level game.

The lights in the cabins do not go out. They stay lit to a very soft night-light like brightness which in theory is a great idea for nocturnal movements, but in practice it keeps the cabin too light for us and is a bit annoying. They even stay on in the shower.

The boat is not large but has 9 cabins. In case I’ve not revealed it, it is Royal Galapagos Natural Paradise. The main deck which our cabin is on has the dining area with 2 tables of 8, and this also has a brewed coffee station and a espresso machine that only the bar tender seems to use, a bench with sugar laden snacks for that quick energy fix, which also houses the wine then down two steps to the lounge and bar.


The junior suites are probably good value as they are larger, lighter and have doors opening to the balcony out the back. We were offered a deal on one of these but took the cash discount over the upgrade.


Lights out at about 2045. Been a big day and all the over-50’s passengers are feeling the 6th day of action.