Highlights of Galapagos Islands. The End.

Day 6, Tuesday, April 23

Morning - Rabida Island with its red beach

Afternoon - Sombrero Chino Island. In the sunset light the island looked amazing. The green hill, corral beach (not sand!), lava stones, cliffs...



Other
Day 6 pictures

Day 7, Wednesday, April 24

Bartolomé is a young volcanic island. Purple, red, orange volcanic formations, cones and a 35C degree heat made it Mars experience for me! The island is famous for its Pinnacle Rock and the panoramic view from the top.





In the afternoon we were walking on "fresh" lava (only 125 yrs old) - Sullivan Bay, Santiago Island.

Amazing nature creations - pahoehoe lava drawings (lava bubble here)




Other day 7 pictures

Day 8, Thursday, April 25

6 am visit to Seymour Norte Island before the flight back to the mainland. The island is a bird paradise. We saw courtship of magnificent and great frigate birds as well as of blue-footed boobies.



Courtship of blue-footed boobies is sometimes called clown dance as the pairs (more so the male) whistle and honk, stretch their necks vertically, spread their wings, and lift feet - showing off bright blue feet.

Magnificent and great frigate birds also make interesting sounds (whistling or clacking) as part of their courtship ritual. But more interesting is to see male frigates to puff up their scarlet throat sacks and spread the wings as the female frigates are approaching.



Other day 8 pictures - more boobies!

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It is amazing to see such an intense wild life in close proximity to the civilization. I think that is the best part of Galapagos Islands. The animals have an absolute right of the way. They do not care about people, fearlessly staring straight at you. So many times we were forced to get off the trail to give some privacy to iguanas, albatross, gulls, blue-footed boobies and of course sea lions. This is my last picture from Galapagos:


All seats are taken!


Galapagos photo set

The End!

Highlights of Galapagos continued

Day 3 pictures are upload on flickr here.

Day 4, Sunday, April 21


We are spending the whole day on and around Espanola island. Three hours in Gardner Bay with a nice beach and of course sea lions. Snorkling off the beach was fun especially when we were swimming above shark's cave (white tipe reef shark). Two of them came out and were swimming right beneath me. Ahhh, scary.

Afternoon hike took us through Punta Suarez.

Different marine iguanas - from redish to greenish


Colonies of Waved Albatross. One field was even called the albatross airport as many pairs are breeding there. Had a chance to see and film the courtship ritual with beak clacking and a bit "drunk" walk of the male bird.






Further along on trail we saw Nazca Boobies. They two were in couples, cleaning each other.



Another sight was shallow-tailed gulls "doing it".

The rest of Day 4 pictures are here.

Day 5, Monday, April 22

Punta Cormorant, Floreana island with a greenish beach.



Flamingo laguna lake, quite empty



Other day 5 pictures.

Highlights of my trip to Galapagos Islands

I am back in the heights and coolness (!!!) of Andean mountains with every piece of my luggage smelly from the salty waters of the Pacific Ocean. I am as tanned I can be, darker than some people of the bus in Quito.

To cover in great detail 8 days in Galapagos Islands would be impossible, so I will try to hit the highlights in a number of posts. I hope the best part would be my photographs. I managed to take about 2,000 only! I will try to add descriptions of some animals and places in my Galapagos album on flick here.

Day 1, Thursday, April 18

Arriving to Galapagos to find out that our boat has technical problems and will be ready mañana, mañana!! After being put in a hotel in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, we headed for Charles Darwin Research Station to see the tortoise breeding center and Lonesome George, the last remaining Pinta tortoise.


Day 2, Friday, April 19

Our schedule is slightly changed and we are visiting the highlands of Santa Cruz while waiting for the news about the boat. On our itinerary - a farm with more tortoises, lava tubes ("Los Tuneles") and pit craters ("Los Gemelos").

The highlight of Day 2 was the afternoon visit to Tortuga Bay - a gorgeous beach with fine white sand, foaming waves and sky-blue water. Playa Blanca in Colombia is immediately forgotten. It is the first time for me to go jumping over waves in the Pacific Ocean and I love it! The water is not as salty as in the Caribbean.



In a cactus forest (Prickly Pear Cactus) a short walk away we find colonies of marine iguanas. They are black, the color of lava stones. Baby and adult iguanas are taking in the sun, hardly moving at all.



Day 3, Saturday, April 20
We are on the boat! Starting our cruise on South Plaza island. The morning hike was full of great shots - marine and land iguanas, and Galapagos sea lions. Up the cliff besides a stunning view we saw quite a number of birds - red-billed tropic bird, shallow-tailed gull, blue-footed booby, nazca booby, and various types of finches.


After lunch snorkeling became fun once we reached low cliffs where sea lions were playing in the water within the hand reach. Dozens of the them were right, left and below us speeding through the water. One of the pups smacked my mask with his fin. Otherwise they are quite precise and only seem to be on the verge of crashing into the rocks, but in the last second their bodies magically curve around the sharp edges.

In the afternoon we hiked in the wetlands of Santa Fé island. Spotted Santa Fé land iguana, found only on this island. On the sand beach we saw a harem of sea lions with one big male and a group of cows, immature sea lions and pups.