Wildlife Wonderland

Trip Start Dec 01, 2008

Trip End Apr 20, 2009

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Flag of Ecuador Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas Day paddle

flattering )not!) Christmas Day outfit!

It's a long time since I was filled with childlike wonder on Christmas Day, but I found myself just giggling with delight this year... through a snorkel. The rocky area just off our afternoon beach was just full of turtles... the first one was a thrill but then every time I moved on there were still more of them. One of them was significantly bigger than the others and was really taking his time, feeding from the rocks below us so that at one point he was

snorkelling with turtle

turtle agai9n

right underneath us, his head bobbing up and down as he ate, and with the sun shining through the clear water onto that massive shell. I was enthralled. Seconds later I watched, mesmerised, as a group of three swam by in formation, playing with each other as they drifted. The poor fish, beautiful as they were, didn't get a look in that afternoon - it was all about the turtles!

lots of fishies!

barking sea lion

But then, the huge schools of fish, the lurking eels and wondrous starfish had been the centre of attention that morning, along with the great number of rays who brushed around my ankles as I paddled at the sea's edge. And the previous day it had been the sea lions at a different spot: they had been sunning themselves on the rocks, withthe big daddy barking protectively as he swam territorially along their stretch of coast. Jumping off the

swimming with sea lion

playing with sea lion

boat, we swam towards them and so he came to check us out... as we moved closer I realised that the barking had become louder but I got a huge shock when he swam right under me, turned and continued straight towards me... I thought there would be a head-on collision but, no, he was just letting me know who was boss!

white tipped shark hiding under rock

And I mustn't forget the white-tipped sharks... having swum among a few of them at the edge of the mangroves on Tortuga Beach, where the water was a little cloudy, it was a thrill to gain a clearer view of one resting under a rock, after playing chase with a sea lion, when we snorkeled the Devil's Crown, a semi-submerged volcanic crater.

marine iguanas

coming at me!

The land creatures were equally impressive, especially to a new lizard enthusiast! As I walked along Tortuga Beach on the afternoon I arrived, I saw a pile of black rocks on the beach, but as a I got nearer I had the sense that the surface was moving... a close-up inspection revealed lots of marine iguanas basking on the rocks, some individually, some almost tangled up with each other. They are not the prettiest of lizardy things, with their flat

shy crab

Sally Lightfoot crab

nosed faces, but they were fascinating to watch as they ambled over rocks and down to the water for a swim. And then I became aware of more movement and realised that the orange colours on the rocks were crabs (Sally Lightfoot crabs, to be precise) whose beady eyes seemed to be popping out as they used their agile claws to feed at the edge of the rock pools.

marine iguana

giant tortoise

It was black marine iguanas on that beach, but then on another of the islands we saw beautifully coloured green and pink ones... and then there were the nimble wee lava lizards, with vivid orange circles round their eyes like mis-applied eye-shadow, who stopped and did a few pressups as they looked us over... and the giant tortoises
who would have to be seen to be believed, with necks that emerged out of their shells and continued to stretch totally out of proportion to their bodies.

lizard on rock

another lava lizard

brown pelican

puffed up frigate bird

The bird life was varied, also, with frigate birds and brown pelicans regularly hanging out on the boat with us, either sitting up on the ropes or perched in the trailing dinghy, and we were lucky enough on North Seymour Island, to see, in the distance, a frigate bird with his red pouch all puffed up on his chest, in an attempt to catch some wee bird's interest. There was a lot of that going on in the bird community, actually, and we saw plenty of

masked boobies{ mating ritual

Blue footed booby

masked boobies in mating rituals, pairs facing each other while their beaks went into action together... hard to know if they were fighting or mating. Some of them must have been successful as there were a few eggs to be seen when some of the birds stood up to preen themselves. The blue footed boobies were a little more laid back, but, let's face it, when you have bright blue webbed feet, you don't really need to perform, do you? A

some kind of bird!

couple of baby albatrosses were spotted, waiting for their enormous parents to bring them food, and also some Galapagos hawks, and a few elegant flamingos dipping their beaks in and out of a lake.

the Golondrina

Tortuga Bay

The islands truly were a wildlife paradise, made all the more exciting by the fact that the creatures are all so tame: the lack of natural predators means they have evolved with little to fear, including humans... so it was possible to walk right beside them and really look closely without them running or flying or swimming for cover. Walking

baby sea lion

baby turtle heading for the sea

amongst baby sea lions frolicking on the shore or feeding from their mothers, and not even a flinch from any of them... it was incredible! Even the presence of Christmas decorations on board our lovely boat, the Golondrina, (and I thought I had escaped all that...!) and a miserably rude guide could not spoil it.
Another dream realised!