Sunrise on our first full day on the Galapagos. We left our boat and travelled by dinghy to the first of the islands we were visiting today - Las Tintoreras. This is a small island in front of Puerto Villamil and home to many marine iguanas.
On the way there we saw our first Galapagos penguin. They are very small at only 35cm when standing. It is the only penguin to be found in the Northern Hemisphere and breed entirely in the tropics. Later in the week whilst snorkelling, we were fortunate to be able to watch them swimming underwater.
Once we reached the island we were overwhelmed by the number of Galapagos marine iguanas. These are the world's only sea-going lizard and they feed almost entirely on algae. There were about 100 in this group!
It was nesting time whilst we were there and we were able to see the huge long tunnels that the female dug before laying her eggs.
There were so many digging holes on the pathway that our guide, Daniel, closed the path to stop any further disturbance to their nesting site.
The next island we visited was Isabela.
We all climbed into this air-conditioned bus which took us to the base of the Sierra Negra Volcano.
We listened intently to the description and history of the Volcano before we started the steep climb to the top. At least we were no longer at altitude which made the walk easier. It was also overcast which had the advantages of less heat and better views from the top.
Although there are many volcanos in the Galapagos this one has the largest basaltic caldera
at 10km in diameter. It last erupted in 2005.
Andras certainly wore the right tee-shirt for a volcano visit.
Lily, my travel companion, and myself.
This is the Galapagos Mockingbird. There are four species of endemic mockingbirds found on the Galapagos. This one is the most common as it is found on most of the islands.
This is the female Galapagos Flycatcher which flew around us and quite happily landed nearby to have a closer look at us.
As we returned to the landing area the sea lions had beaten us to the best seats.
It was now lunch time and we returned to our boat. All our meals were eaten on the boat preventing food being taken onto the islands.
I laughed out loud at those lazy sea lions taking all the good seats! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm with DJan, quite the comical duo on the picnic table! These photos would be named "A Bit of Paradise" by me!
ReplyDeleteThe sea lions are hilarious. I am relieved the iguanas eat algae and not meat!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of iguanas!
ReplyDeleteThank you for these sights from the Galapagos.
And congrats on the 500th post.
Oh my gosh I couldn't believe those sea lions right on the benches! We've seen rafts of them in Oregon and sometimes they flop up on the docks, but wow... and a volcano climb....and I can only imagine that many iguanas....wow. And knew nothign about the penguins there. What a marvelous experience for you.... it's pretty neat just to read your post.
ReplyDeleteOh what a cool trip! I'm lovin' all the critters you're seeing.
ReplyDeleteIf I was any more jealous of this trip my comment would be in a green font!
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures of a place that is very high on my bucket list!
Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne
Wow! What a nice trip! Your photos are very cool and interesting. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSurprising little iguanas would know how to make their way out of the long tunnels. An instinct, I guess. And the sea lions certainly know who owns the place! Made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteInteresting photos of all the different animals.
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