Out and about
Trip Start
Jan 16, 2008
1
22
35
Trip End
Apr 19, 2008
Puerto Villamil,
Ecuador
Monday, March 24, 2008
The other weekend we took a boat over to Los Tuneles (The Tunnels) with some of the other volunteers that are here at the moment. The landscape there is just incredible. We've got a few pictures, but they don't really do it justice. Basically the area is a bunch of hundreds of small islets which are either undermined by the water, or are partial lava tubes, so they form bridges or tunnels. Saw our first Galapagos Penguins and the first close up of a Boobie, and yes, they really do have blue feet. Freaky!
Great snorkelling there too, but we've seen more at Concha now.
Over the past weekend we've seen Galapagos Green Turtles, Spotted Eagle Rays, other rays, Galapagos Sea Lions, Galapagos Penguins and even a couple of White Tipped Reef Sharks. And it's 15 minutes walk from home. How cool is that?
Did another tour out to Las Tintoreras (The White Tipped Reef Sharks), which is a bunch of small islands just out from the port here in Puerto Villamil. The sharks use the lagoons between the islands as a place to rest, hence the name
376. Galapagos Sheerwaters
. Now we can honestly say that we've seen boobies. There is a HUGE colony out there, so we've seen loads. Plus more marine iguanas and penguins. No sharks out there though unfortunately, but as I say, we've seen them at Concha since, so no worries. Highlight of the day was swimming with a group of 4 sea lions. Way cool!This time of year is definitely breeding season for everything here. A couple of nights ago some of the other volunteers had been out on the beach and seen a marine turtle up laying eggs. So we tried our luck as well. First night we didn't see any, but we did see some tracks where one had already been and gone. Easter Saturday we had better luck. Walking along the beach, looking, looking. See some tracks - only one set. Slowly, slowly walk up the beach and there she is. Hole dug already. Busy laying eggs. Fantastic. We stayed for a couple of hours and watched until she was done and had buried them all. After all that she was pretty tired and it showed, but she managed to struggle back down to the water's edge and away. Very, very cool way to spend an evening! Brings a whole new meaning to easter eggs really. Ahhh... Galapagos!
Time here is almost up though unfortunately. On Wednesday we head back to Santa Cruz for another 6 nights and then it's back over to the mainland...
