This was our first full day on the boat. A couple of remarkable things about the Galapagos: 1. It’s hot. The heat dictated our schedule and we tended to have early morning excursions and late avernoon excursions to avoid the heat of the day. It also impacted the animals - each with their own different adaptation for how to keep cool - or keep their eggs cool in some cases. 2. The wildlife really doesn’t care that you are there. The Equadorian government has done an amazing job with the Galapagos - in dictating how people should interact with animals (6 foot rule for example) and in enforcing those rules with a naturalist required to accompany you any time you leave the beach/trailhead.
Our morning was spent on North Seymour island - which was home to an impressive number of birds of different shapes and sizes as well as iguanas & some sea lions. The first animal was saw in abundance was the Blue Footed Booby. This bird is obviously known for it’s blue feet but it also has some other surprising adaptations - there are airbags in it’s face/head for absorbing the impact of high speed dives into the water. We also saw them doing this thing where they hold out their wings in a diamond shape behind their body to shade their body from the heat (and their egg if they have one) and panting heavily to shed excess heat.
This particular island had an enormous number of frigate birds - of which their are two types, the magnificent and the great (the difference is very subtle). It was frigate bird mating season so all the males had their red pouches inflated - which looked very impractical in my opinion. Frigate birds can’t get wet, they don’t have the oily coat on their feathers like other birds do. Instead they fly low over the ocean and snatch fish right near the surface and, quite often it turns out, they steal from other birds. Other birds have to be very careful around the frigate birds!
We also saw a number of pelicans - which seem to be a very well adapted animal, from the PNW to the Galapagos!
Last but certainly not least, the island was full of terrestrial iguanas. It was mating season for them as well, so they came out of the bushes and grouped together near the beach. These iguanas spend all their time on land and are fairly easy to tell apart from the marine iguanas that are all black (and very ugly).
As we explored the island, we found these huge cactuses that were just in terrible shape (as compared to the ones we saw near the airport). Apparently this is another adaptation from the iguanas - they use the cactus for shade, and if they want a drink they take a bit. This explains why the lower parts of the cactus were in even worse shape than the tops.
While most of the iguanas we saw on this trip were terrestrial (they don’t enter the ocean), we did see a few marine iguanas. This juvenile was quite good looking perched up on the rock - the juveniles tended to be very streamlined/sleek, before they start molting.
Some pictures of the family & others on the trip. We were dressed for the sun (which there was plenty of) but all in good spirits.
After our morning excursion, we headed back to the boat to get ready for snorkeling! A little friend came out to say goodbye…
Snorkeling was a perfect afternoon activity as it continued to get hotter after the morning trip. We had the option of snorkeling from the Zodiac, but we opted to leave from the beach to give Sara an easier first time. The beach we were to snorkel from was full of red sand - apparently from the high iron content in the sediment that rusts on contact with water. The beach was beautiful and when we arrived there were a couple of Sea lions sleeping on the beach. Later in the trip I would realize that this is a perfectly common occurance, but on our 2nd day this was quite cool - primarily that our presence didn’t disturb them in the least.
As we were watching the sleeping pair, a friend came up to meet them. The light and angle was just right and he looked very regal (despite being a fairly small juvenille).
For Sara’s first real snorkeling, she did great and was super excited the whole time. The mask is pretty good about purging any water that leaks in, but it doesn’t get all of it so at some point Sara started to get water in/around her eyes which caused her great consternation. This resulted in something like 30 min to an hour of snorkeling before she was ready to quit. She was able to see some amazing fish during that time though - and we played a game where she would point at a fish and I had to dive down to get a picture (or video) of it. I was great fun for her and I ended up with a lot of picures of sardines/Wrasse and other common fish… :)
More of Sara’s excitement!
The snorkel site was also home to quite a few sea turtles. They are very magestic creatures.
And this one of the turtle eating.
One example of a dive for Sara was the Parrot fish (of which Sara is a fan). They eat primarily coral - which means they are prolific poopers of sand (the ground up bits of coral). Most beaches in the Galapagos (perhaps globaly?) are sand from fish (like the Parrotfish eating coral. They are very common fish around the world, but they are big and colorful - which are all the things Sara likes.
One of the best things about doing the snorkel from the beach was the great light we were getting on the background of red rocks - which made for some great pictures. Here are some of my favorites from this snorkeling trip.
After snorkeling, we went back to the ship for a quick refresh before we were given the option to head back to the same beach for a photography excursion. There was a small tidal pond just behind the beach that becomes highly salinated from the heat/evaporation and flamingoes like to come here to feed. There were probably 2 dozen flamingoes in the pond, including one that was mostly white (apparently a different subspecies - a Chilean Flamingo). They were mostly feeding, but there were some period of activity either from mating rituals or just snipping at each other. Some of my best picures just how off how amazing their necks are - super flexible and controlled despite the large head/beak.
We headed back to the boat after our photography excursion for a fabulous dinner (I could write a whole blog on the food on the ship it was so good, but I won’t) and off to bed - exhaused and in need of rest for the week to come!