We sleep in to 7.30 this morning! We are already docked and it is sunny and 26 degrees. Manta is the tuna capital of the world and you can see why when we look out the window. There plenty of tuna boats at anchor and many of the larger boats have landing pads on them with a small helicopter. They use the helicopter to locate the schools of tuna and then surround them with their nets. One of the boats docks on the other side of the pier from us and we can watch them unload the tuna. They are not large tuna probably 4 to 5 feet. We are told that the ships usually stay at sea for up to two months and can offload 1000 tonnes of tuna. With the number of boats and how they fish I am surprised they have not fished out the area by now.
We have our gym session, breakfast and trivia and then head off the ship. There is a shuttle from the ship to the end of the docks area as it is a working port. The city is quite large with high rise buildings and a lovely beach to the right. The beach is quite long with waves rolling in, giving left and right breaks on a sandy bottom. The waves are only 2 to 3 feet but rideable. There is no one riding, but further off on the horizon I can make out what appears to be a rocky point with what appears to be much larger waves breaking. I suspect this is where you would go to surf.
We walk around for 90 minutes, stock up with wine and chuppa chups, have a walk along the beach, see a flight of pelicans fly over us and then head back to the ship. Manta is also the home of the Panama hat and there are street vendors everywhere selling the Panama hat. It is getting very warm and as we head back and an ice cold beer is calling us. Later on we go to the wheelhouse bar where Ann gets a Shiraz gin and I have a beer. Ann gets a shock when the amount comes up in her account - $25! Her first and last Shiraz gin on this cruise.
About 2.45 we hear there are some whales off the starboard, so I race and get my camera and was able to get a couple of shots, though they were a long way off. There was a group of at least four humpbacks and they were quite active with breaching and fin slapping. Then we sail out at 6 pm and the captain says we might see the whales again on our port side. About 30 minutes after leaving we see them again but they are still a long way off. There were a lot of splashes and when I check the photos I can see the body of a whale as it comes out of the water.
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