Galapagos Day 1-2

  Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thursday 27 November - The Galapagos Islands - The Wildlife

[Please excuse any delay but I have over 300 snaps to edit - I will be adding parts peacemeal]

N Sunbathing

The most amazing thing about the Galapagos Islands is how totally tame the animals & birds are, there have been no natural predators on the islands until man introduced rats, dogs etc. You can walk right up to the Sea Lions, Iguanas & the birds & they will ignore you unless you nearly touch them (which you should NOT do). A minimum distance of 3m is stipulated but this is difficult when the animals are spread all over the paths & in the case of the Sea Lions, come right up to you.
Bye the way, there are only sea lions in Galapagos, not seals - sea lions have little ears on the side of their heads, and seals don't (so now you know!).

DAY 1 - Caleta Tortuga Negra
Our first exploration got off to gentle start. In the afternoon we took a ride in the panga (our small motor boat) into the mangroves & saw some more Boobies & some Pelicans. In the lagoons amongst the mangroves we saw turtles popping their heads up & murky underwater shadows of Galapagos sharks - a disappointing start!

Day 2 - Bartholome Island - Sullivan Bay

D Penguin posing

We motored through the night & after breakfast were panga'ed to Bartholome Island to walk over the black lava rock flows. As we were coming in to land, a little Galapagos Penguin hopped out of the water, climbed up the rocks & posed for us. We were lucky because Penguins don't normally come this far east; their main breeding ground is on Isabela Island.

G Cactus

The lava was very recent (a mere 100 years old) so it hadn't weathered yet - it was like coke with a shiny rippled surface. The rock was very light being full of holes, like pumice. Although it appeared barren, it already had some plants clinging to life on it. We climbed up to a lookout where you could see the barren landscape & a couple of volcanic craters at the sea edge, nicknamed the sea lions Jacuzzi.
We walked to the very edge of the lava flow.

P Sally

In the afternoon we were dropped off at Sullivan Bay, a lovely sandy beach littered with sea lions & iguanas. The more adventurous went snorkelling & saw an amazing array of fish, turtles, and rays & of course sea lions. The rest of us went swimming, laying on the beach with the sea lions or clambered over rocks scaring the thousands of bright orange Sally Lightfoot crabs.

M Frolics

The sea lions were totally un-afraid of humans & would swim right up to you on the beach & frolic in the waves. When they want to come ashore they swim in at full speed & shoot up onto the beach. The males spent their time swimming up & down their territory keeping their harem in order & honking alot.
The females are an idle lot spending most of their day sleeping in the sun.