Vlog-style transcript of Day 5 aboard the Natural Paradise in the Galapagos. Hosts Nate and Kara Buchanan wake at 6:00 AM to visit Chinese Hat, observe tame sea lions (nursing mothers, playful pups), and go snorkeling hoping to see hammerhead sharks. They instead encounter Galapagos sharks (two described at ~8 ft) and many white-tip sharks (~3–4 ft). The boat returned to Baltra midday for fuel and the group had a two-hour sun-deck break; the GoPro, previously stored in rice, was intermittently recording. The day ends with extended beach time watching sea lions and sunset moments.
Chapters
What?
It's day five aboard the natural paradise in the magical place on earth.
This morning we got up extra early at 6am and we're heading to the island of Chinese Hat. Reason we got up an hour earlier than usual is because this is when the wildlife is supposed to be best. Supposed to see lots of sea lions this morning.
We have a lot to do today.
It.
So we have not stepped off the boat more than like 20ft and we've already seen a mama sea lion nursing her cub. It's just so crazy how unfearful the animals are here. To be within 10ft of a group of tourists.
And just like nursing your baby and having no care in the world about the tourists harming you. It's just so cool and unlike anything else you'd ever see anywhere else in the world.
Sam.
Sama.
Sam.
After lunch, we had a nice two hour break. The boat went back to Baltra to fill up on gas and we enjoyed two hours up on the sun deck.
Next, I can't decide if I'm really excited or really terrified. Terrified. We're about to go snorkeling and we've heard that there's a good chance we'll be seeing hammerhead sharks.
However, if we do see them, hopefully we can catch them on the GoPro. It's been in rice for the last few days. It's still being super weird, but it's recording.
It turned on so we're gonna take it in the water with us.
Screens doing weird things. The little light won't turn off, but.
We have hope and hopefully we'll be capturing some hammerhead shar.
So we just got back from swimming with sharks. We didn't see any hammerheads, but we saw plenty of other massive sharks.
The Galapagos shark is massive. It's what we saw on the side of the boat the other night and I was freaking out. And there were at least 10 of them.
There were two that were probably like 8ft long. And they didn't just pass underneath us. They literally like made circles and kept getting higher and closer and closer. It was like terrifying, exhilarating, an adrenaline rush. I mean, I'm really glad I did it, but it was like really scary at the moment.
And then our guide Jaime told everyone to get on the boat and we were going to a new spot, but he didn't tell us why.
We're pretty sure it was in search of hammerheads, not because of safety issues.
But the timing was.
We haven't even mentioned the white tip sharks. They were everywhere. At this point, it's just like, oh, it's just a white tip shark.
Yeah, Little like three and four foot sharks. No big deal. So now we just came back to the boat. We are getting changed and getting on the dinghy to go check out another island.
This one's really beachy.
I'm trying to do.
He's like, what?
I'm away.
You're nice and dry. You must have been up here for a while.
He is. And she's really fat.
Don't cry.
I.
That was very, very cute. Sea lions are officially my new favorite animal. This trip has just been so crazy because I can get this close to a sea lion. Doesn't even care. Completely relaxed, just hanging out. Uh oh. I thought we were friends.
They were my new favorite animal. We've been like, walking along this island. We see mamas and their babies, babies fighting with each other. Seawinds are just so much fun. And the noises that they make make me laugh so hard. They're like.
They'Re just constantly, like, talking to each.
Oh.
Okay. So snorkeling the first day was like, absolutely amazing. But I think this has to be my highlight of the entire trip.
Sea lions and sunsets are a great combination.
We just got to spend an hour just, like, hanging out with sea lions, sitting right beside him, watching them, listening.
To them, watching the babies fight. My favorite is when they're fighting or if they're just sleeping and then all of a sudden they're like, just posing for your picture.
Another absolutely amazing day here in the Galapagos. Back in the.
It is day five.
It's day five aboard the Natural Paradise. It's day five aboard the Natural Paradise.
You're not saying anything else? What are you looking at?
