Galapagos, Day 15, Afternoon: Santa Fe Island

Time for another Galapagos Post! I know, I made you wait. I’m bad.

Ecuador Trip: Day 15

Galapagos Cruise: Day 10

If you’re new to my Galapagos posts and you’re wondering why they’re titled 5 days ahead of the cruise, it’s because I like to continue how I begin (blame it on the Capricorn), and I began blogging about our cruise five days before the cruise began. As in, Day 1 was the day we flew to Ecuador. Therefore, Day 15 = Day 10 of the cruise.

I know, it’s complicated and I should be hung on some of that cacti on South Plaza Island for being confusing. But if that happened, I’d be hanging off cacti my entire life.

So we’ll just continue how we began.

The afternoon of April 30th took us to Santa Fe Island, which is also known as Barrington. It has a lovely little bay where large cruise ships can’t anchor. But catamarans with 16 passengers can. For me, this is another plus of going on a boat with a small number of passengers. Quite simply, your itinerary allows you to visit more sites. We were able to go kayaking from our anchorage point off Santa Fe. The Cormorant only has two kayaks, so two couples would go out, kayak around, then come back.

Over the two-week trip, I believe there were only two opportunities to use the kayaks. Indeed, I began to wonder why they were on-board. Both opportunities occurred during Week 2 of the cruise. I can’t remember where the other opportunity was, because I didn’t take advantage of it. Sorry about the lousy note-taking!

I’ve only gone kayaking one time before the Galapagos, during a group trip to Salt Spring Island in B.C. That was a long time ago, and the main thing I remember is that I was not very good at kayaking. Turned out a lot hadn’t changed between Salt Spring Island and Santa Fe! I’m still not good at it. I lost my hat. I forced my husband to turn back and rescue it before it drowned. He claimed he had to do all the work of rowing, or whatever you call it. Apparently, I was supposed to watch what he was doing and somehow, miraculously, then know what to do myself. Really, I’m just supposed to lounge in the back of the kayak like Cleopatra on a river barge. After all these years, you’d think my husband would realize this. So our kayaking trip, while fun…I prefer the snorkeling. No one’s relying on me. I can screw up to my heart’s content!

I have another excuse for my lousy kayaking skills, however. You see, the sea sickness that had plagued me at the beginning of our trip was returning. Knowing I get motion sickness, on the day we flew from Quito to the Galapagos, I began wearing this medicinal patch behind my ear. You wear one for three days behind one ear and then you wear the second one for three days behind the other ear. I had hoped that by the time I finished wearing the patch for 6 days, my sea sickness would subside. I was also nibbling ginger and wearing those acupuncture wrist bands, both of which were supposed to help. Once I went off the ear patch, however, it took a couple of days, but I grew progressively more woozy. The day we went kayaking, I wasn’t quite ready to go back on the patch. But a day later I had to miss a snorkeling opportunity because I felt so woozy. At this point, I was glad I’d brought along extra ear patches.

If you get seasick, do not count on “getting used to it.” I got “used to” the motion of the boat, to walking up and down the stairs to the sundeck, etc., as in I became more physically adept at these activities. But I could not give up my dependence on the patch. So take plenty!

One of the other passengers was doing far worse than moi, however. She was feeling so poorly that the Cormorant headed toward San Cristobal to get her something for her stomach. Along the way, we passed Kicker Rock, where we would snorkel in two more days. Kicker Rock is so beautiful! I must have taken a million pictures. Nothing but seeing it in real life can do it justice, but here’s a taste as we’re motoring past to get nausea medication for another guest:

In two days, we would be snorkeling around the smaller of the two humongous rocks. We snorkeled all around it. It was amazing.

I have a lot of views of Kicker Rock. You might be sick of it by the time we leave the vicinity. This was our first glimpse, we had several others, and I don’t think I could ever tire of the sight of Kicker Rock. That would be like getting sick of looking at the amazing beautiful lakes we have in my part of British Columbia. Just not gonna happen. Your mileage may vary.