Monday, March 18- Agua Verde

Another glorious sunrise. A typical morning on one of these cruises consists of me walking out of my cabin and saying, “Wow”.

This island is called, creatively, "Isla Solitaria".

After breakfast, I headed out with my hiking group. It was, as promised, rigorous. We climbed to a ridge at the top of the mountain, got pictures of the views from every angle, and climbed down again. It was rocky and the obstacles included the occasionally thorny plants. I accidentally tried to grab a cactus as I scrambled up a hill. Oops. In 3 hours we covered less than 2 miles. It was the perfect level of exertion for me; I felt pleasantly worn out but not exhausted. Good thing- the kayak trip would begin after lunch!

Fortified by a good meal and a couple of electrolyte tablets (for prevention), I set off on the kayak tour. Since I was traveling alone, they assigned me a partner-a young man named Fabio in his 20s (no, he did not resemble THAT Fabio in the least) who usually worked in the kitchen. He’d been out kayaking only once before but supplied the necessary extra muscle power and we had a nice conversation. He’d been with UnCruise only 3 years- had worked in restaurants and for one mega-cruise line until he heard about this one from a friend who worked for UnCruise. Quite a few of UnCruise employees had worked for the big lines and were happy to be with this one. Other employees told me later that Fabio was one of their hardest workers but it was hard to get him out of the kitchen. I told them he did a great job. I think he enjoyed the scenery and the birds as much as I did. I found later that it was typical for a crew member to join and excursion in their off-hours; it allowed them to learn about the areas they visited. I liked that. Our guide told us that the mountains were still moving away from each other as the Pacific Plate separated from the North American plate. We saw some Sally-go-Lightly crabs, a couple of tiny grebes, some pelicans, a cormorant, an osprey, one of the ever-present turkey vultures and a glossy ibis. I got back into the rhythm of paddling easily even though I hadn’t been in a kayak in awhile, so between Fabio’s extra muscle and my expertise we kept up with the group.

On the water with "the other Fabio".

Cocktail hour was up in the sun deck so we could enjoy the beautiful evening. At dinner I joined a woman with her 12-year old granddaughter. She’d clearly had a lot of “work” done on her face and I didn’t think we’d have a lot in common but she turned out to be 75 (VERY hard to believe.. almost made me want to get a facelift) and was a retired attorney who worked in Contracts law and was taking her grandchildren, one at a time, on adventures, which is exactly what I want to do. I met some really great women on this trip- a dentist, a CFA, an IT troubleshooter who works with offshored teams in India as I did, a retired Anthropology professor and a Physician’s Assistant. Many were with a group called Women Traveling Together, which I have to check out.

I stayed in the lounge for the evening lecture on birds- Sarah, one of my favorite guides, was presenting it and I wanted to see pictures. Sarah’s favorite bird is the loggerhead shrike, a cute little birdie that captures its prey but lacks the claws and beak to tear it apart, so it spears it on whatever is available- a sharp branch or a piece of barbed wire- and bites off little pieces. Nice. It’s even smart enough to let prey that contain toxins sit where they’ve been impaled for a few days till the toxins are no longer active. Another interesting detail: the American bald eagle is “kleptoparasitic”, meaning it steals the prey other birds have caught. Ben Franklin was against naming it the national bird of the US because of its “poor moral habits”. I was sipping some wine at the time and still have a purple stain on my blouse from my reaction when I heard that one.