Isla de la Plata

I FINALLY SAW THE BOOBIES!

Yay, I am happy to report that my trip to Isla de la Plata yielded everything I expected and those adorable blue footed boobies were quite welcoming.

It was a 1 hour 20 minute speed boat ride to get the island. 15 minutes before we got there, there was a whale sighting, so we stopped the boat and floated for a while watching the whale flip and wave its tail at us. I had never seen a whale before. It was just like the pictures! We landed on the only part of the island that has a beach. There is a house built there where the park rangers stay for 10 day rotations to protect the island. Apparently, they are not paid to clean the toilets, so we had to make do squatting over dirty apparatus and then scooping a milk jug of water from a barrel in order to flush. We were given some kind of sweet bread and then we were off for our hike.

The island itself is basically a big rock covered with dry brush (at least right now since it is the dry season). We all took off our shoes and waded into the ocean to get on the speed boat. I was probably the person who spoke the least Spanish although there were some Germans and a New Zealander on the boat with me. You don´t see the usual kind of tourist here and it seams that most of the people enjoying Puerto López for their vacation are either Ecuadorians or foreigner who are in the country for an extended stay.


There are two hiking trails, but in order to minimize the disruption to the natural environment, you have to choose one. Unfortunately, that means you had to choose between seeing albatross or frigate birds. With a little help from the New Zealander, whose Spanish was fluent, I chose the frigate birds because the males puff their chests into red balloons and I thought this would be neat to see. I was not disappointed.

First we walked through an area where the blue footed boobies were all around us, in pairs, just watching us walk along the path. In some cases, they were nesting eggs on the path and we had to go around them. You´ll never believe the pictures. I even got some video of one waddling along with his ducky blue feet. I got another picture of two lovers passing some dried grass. When they poop, they shoot it in a spray out from behind them. They circle around and eventually create a little donut shaped circle of white spray around their eggs. Our guide said that they do this to protect themselves from the sun while they are guarding the eggs for 30-45 days. Apparently, the sun reflects off the white poop and doesn´t shine so brightly on them. I´m dubious but I checked my understanding the girl from New Zealand and she confirmed the story. One booby stood up for a minute and we saw its greenish egg beneath.






Beyond the boobies were a flock (of 3000) frigate birds. They were all hanging out in the trees. Juveniles with white heads, females with white breasts, and males who were all black with a dangling red roostery thing on their chests. They are huge and have crooked bills like something out of an Edgar Allen Poe story. Once again, we got very close and were easily able to take pictures. On the way back, I got a close up of the mail with his chest puffed out. Supposedly, the women are easy, because this is all it takes for them to be turned on.

We were with the slow group (grandma, grandpa, and two whiny 5 year olds who kept demanding my binoculars) so the guide did not want to take us any further. Luckily, my New Zealander friend was persistent and even told the guide that I had come all the way from the states to see the birds and we had to go on. Yay for her. We went on to see the masked boobies. Now masked boobies are white and have feet of an uninteresting color, but they were also in a later stage of the mating cycle so many of them had hatched chicks in various stages of plumage beneath them.

After all this excitement, we returned to the beach, boarded the boat, and scooted half way around the Island to the snorkeling point. I stink at snorkeling, but I did manage to get my face in the water long enough to see the clown fish, otherwise known as Nemos. We ate two cheese sandwiches, fresh watermelon and pineapple, and then revved the engines for the considerably more choppy ride home. I was not really sick on the way out, but did feel the choppiness a little more than I would have liked, so I took a Dramamine. It turned out to be a good move as the ride home was like an adventure at Six Flags, only it lasted for over an hour. The people at the back of the boat were soaked for the entire ride. I had a good seat and only got sprayed. On the way, we saw a fishing boat being overrun by frigate birds. It was like a Hitchcock movie. The only thing I can think is that it was drawing in its catch at the moment. There were other fishing boats out there that were not being so molested. We also had a group of pelicans fly alongside us for a while. They fly in a line like a wave that goes up and down skimming the water. They could fly faster than the boat.






I got home happy and wet with another hundred pictures. Tomorrow is my long journey home. I´ll leave here around 2:00 to go to Manta. I´ll catch my flight from Manta at 7:00 PM and then my flight from Quito at 10:00 PM and arrive in DC at 10 AM the next day.