Woke up at 7.00 this morning, but a huge wave of tiredness came over me and I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. I don’t know whether it’s the early morning, late nights, exercise, fresh air, free cocktails or a combination of all of them, but I was just completely drained. Therefore I missed the interesting 1.5 mile hike over the lava field; Trevor went without me.
On his return at around 11 o’clock we went and had a cup of coffee and croissant and sat out on the rear decks. I still felt a bit like one o’clock half-struck and hoped I would feel better for the deep-water snorkelling this afternoon.
We just spent the morning and early afternoon pottering around the ship, sitting out on deck and passing the time with our fellow passengers.
At 2.30pm I still had absolutely no energy, so I reluctantly decided to miss the snorkelling; Trevor buddied up with Jeff and off they went. I saw Jan out on deck and she said she too was very tired, so maybe all the activity and excitement was catching up with us. ☹
Once the snorkelers returned, we had about 45 minutes before setting off on a scenic Zodiac ride along the coast. As ever, we revelled in the feel of the wind and sea-spray on our faces as we journeyed alongside the beautiful rugged coastline, listening to the cries of the birds. We saw lots of pelicans, boobies, frigatebirds and sea turtles and it was a pleasant and invigorating ride.
Back on board the Xpedition at about six o’clock, we enjoyed a cold beer each and some pre-dinner canapés, accompanied by the Latin beat of some lively background music. Then we returned to cabin 416 to get washed and changed and ready for the evening’s briefing on tomorrow’s activities. By now any lethargy had left me and I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed once more. 😊
The briefing included a small wine and cheese party; I partook of a selection of local cheeses, some grapes and walnuts, and a glass of crisp rosé wine. This then took us nicely to dinner time, where Jeff had reserved a table for six of us, so Neil and Gail could join us as well.
Dinner was a lively affair with much good food, good wine, interesting conversation and laughter. We were amused at some of the differences in the American and British languages; the way the same word has completely different meanings in each nation. The great playwright George Bernard Shaw probably described it best when he said that America and Britain are “two nations divided by a common language.” 😊
After dinner the six of us adjourned to the Discovery Lounge to take part in tonight’s Trivia Quiz, wherein all the questions were about the Galápagos. We scored 18/24 but one team called “Felix”, whose paper we had marked, scored 23/24 so we thought they were the winners, until it transpired that “Felix” was one of the bar staff! He was immediately disqualified therefore, and they declared our team, who was called “Norfolk ‘n’ Chance” (!) the winners. Yay! 😊 We received a goody bag which contained baseball caps, Ecuadorian chocolate and postcards, which we divided up between us.
We remained in the Discovery Lounge until, one by one, it emptied out and we were the only ones left. We made it to bed by 11.00pm (which is early for us) but I was determined I wasn’t going to miss any of the activities tomorrow. 😊
