Our ship is owned by the Wittmer family who were early
settlers to these islands. Rolf Wittmer's parents arrived on Floreana
Island from Germany in 1933 and Rolf was born shortly after IN A CAVE.
At that time there were about 8 people living on that island. Our crew
on the Tip Top III are all local Ecuadorians. Captain is Washington,
First Mate and panga driver is Fernando, other panga driver is Israel,
cook is named Wellington, cooks helper is Jonathan, ship's engineer is
Julio, and Polo takes care of the bar and dining area. Pepe, our
naturalist guide is the only one who is fluent in English, but crew and
guests all get by with Spanglish. We get used to the daily routine.
I am here with my early coffee at 6:15, and we are anchored
in calm seas off Ferandina Island at the beginning of our last full day
in the islands. Polo is taking orders for eggs and most of our group is
up and chatting before our 6:30 breakfast. Always juice and fresh fruit
for breakfast. Out one window Sally notices a striated heron on the
ship's rail. In a little while we will go on shore for a walk at a large
sea iguana colony, this afternoon we will swim. We swam every day except
one - sometimes off the pangas in deep water; sometimes from a beach.
No comments:
Post a Comment