Our Great Adventure: Isla Santa Fe / Isla South Plaza Day 289 04/07/2015

We anchored in the early hours and managed to get some sleep once the boats engines had been turned off! Breakfast was at 0700 and we were ready to go on land at 0800, visiting Island Santa Fe. Isla Santa Fe is a small island, only 24 sq km, just off the east coast of Isla Santa Cruz. We landed on the beach in the midst of numerous Galapagos sea lions, swimming in the shallow waters and lazing on the beach. Brown pelicans were floating in the shallows and resting on the nearby rocks. Just off the beach were numerous land iguanas, Galapagos doves and mockingbirds. We were lucky enough to get our first sighting of blue footed boobies, one of four booby species on the islands. We had a short walk before returning to the boat to change into our wet suits and snorkelling gear. We headed back towards the beach and jumped into the sea (more of a belly slide in for Diane!). The water was warm and clear and after a bit of time getting use to the snorkelling gear (especially for Diane who kept holding her breath under the water) we were swimming with sea lions and over the top of hundreds of different species of fish and star fish. It was a wonderful sight. Back on the dingies we headed further out for another snorkel. The water here was much choppier but once you had your head under the surface you forgot about the waves. The fish were in abundance both varied and size of some of the shoals. Neither of us wanted to get out of the water but it was soon time to head back to the boat for lunch. After lunch we had a few hours free to sun bathe, read and catch up on sleep, whilst we sailed to Isla South Plaza. We anchored just of the island and got the dingies to shore, joining the sea lions on the jetty. The island is covered in Opuntia cactus and there were land and marine iguanas everywhere. We lost count of how many we'd seen. A colony of bachelor sea lions was on the far end of the island and the rocky cliffs are an open ocean nesting site for red billed tropic birds, swallow tailed gulls and many other birds. Back on board the boat Simon, Klas and some of the crew watched the penalty shoot out in the final of the Copa America cup, Chile beating Argentina 4-1. Dinner was again an enjoyable affair, we're certainly not going to miss out on fresh fruit and veg over the next few days. It was also a nice opportunity to get to know some of our fellow passengers a little bit better including Michelle and Becky from the UK, Daphne and Peter also from the UK and Klas and Corine from Sweden. After dinner we set sail for Isla San Cristobal.