Black Turtle Cove & Tortuga Bay

We were so sad to leave the Fragata - the whole crew was wonderful and our naturalist guide, Roberto, was exceptional. Our last outing with them was to Black Turtle Cove. 

This is an inlet on the northwest shore of Santa Cruz, not far from Baltra harbor. We went out at 6 just as the sun was rising. As we entered the cove we saw a large diamond ray resting on the bottom. Pelicans and blue footed boobies flew overhead. The water in the cove we absolutely still. Mangroves lined the shore and even formed islands. One of these was frosted in white egrets just waking up and taking to the sky. 

Our first big wildlife excitement was spotting a golden ray cruising at the edge of the mangroves. It was extremely hard to photograph in the early morning light. I tried the underwater camera but that too was a challenge as it required kneeling on the floor of the panga and dropping my arm over the side. It was completely impossible to see what the camera was seeing. The result is a lot of video of water and just occasionally some sea life - and those bits are of dubious quality. 

Black turtle cove may be even more aptly named than Playa Roja. For the entire tour we were able to see at least one sea turtle at all times. Often we could see a half dozen or more. Deeper into the cove the light improved and the water was a little clearer. This gave us amazing views of tiny baby black tip sharks. We saw striped herons feeding perched on the mangrove roots and yellow warblers flitting through the branches. We encountered another golden ray who was a bit more cooperative about being filmed. Deep into the cove was a shallow area with about a dozen turtles hanging out. On our way out we crossed paths with a 3 foot white tip shark. Near the exit to the cove a school of spotted eagle rays flapped along at the surface showing their wingtips. The rocks in the bay outside the cove were now covered in blue footed boobies posing attractively. 

We couldn't manage another week aboard to get to the central/ eastern islands so we stayed in Puerto Ayora and arranged to make day trips to Bartolome, North Seymour, and San Cristobal. We started this new chapter with a hike out to Tortuga Bay. There are two parts to Tortuga Bay. First one comes to the side facing the open ocean. It is a place where one can really see and feel just how poorly named the Pacific Ocean is. The waves crashing on the shore were 10 to 12 feet tall. Our guide Jonathan unnecessarily told us that this was not a good place to swim. The other part of Tortuga Bay is sheltered from the Pacific's violence by a long, narrow peninsula of basalt. This side is perfectly calm, but to our chagrin, quite cloudy and no good for snorkeling. We were in the water before we realized this and so had a refreshing swim after our long hike. As we walked along the shore drying off an baby black tip shark came cruising along the shore. It made its way to patch of mangrove roots and hunted for the little fish hiding there. 

Rather than walk back to town, we opted for the speed boat. This was a tremendously exciting experience as the boat raced up and down the 10 foot swells. We treated our mangled spines with Tylenol and turned in early to be ready for our 6 am start for Bartolome!