a lava heron stalking fish at the dock in Puerto Ayora
the dock in Puerto Ayora, the biggest town in the Galapagos - about 10,000 people + tourists - It has grown more than twofold just in the last 20 years or so
view of the bay at Puerto Ayora from our boat, El yate Fragata
back deck of the boat
looking down the cabin hallway to the captain's bridge - I slept on the bottom level of the ship, near the engine room
sun deck with our Dutch friends
looking down from the sun deck
looking out from the back deck
barking bull
American Oystercatcher catching....something other than oysters
Sunset on Sante Fe island
sleepy baby
the amazing Marine iguana
a closer look
Galapagos hawk surveying his territory
piquero de patas azules
I know I'm pretty
put your right foot in...put your right foot out...put your right foot in...and oooo, got an itch
female lava lizard
This is a Mangrove Yellow Warbler running along the beach on Espanola, eating bugs.
A view of gorgeous Gardner Bay beach - We used to hike here from my camp on Espanola about 4 hours away along the coast, showing up looking like people off of Survivor and startling the tourists :) It's an uninhabited island like most of the others, but tourists are allowed to land and snorkel and walk around for a few hours at a time.
One of Darwin's famous little finches...this is the cute Large Cactus Finch - he has one of the biggest beaks
A snoozing American Oystercatcher
a wandering Wandering Tattler
closer view of the Wandering Tattler
Stormy skies...
and rainbows!
the ever curious Hood Mockingbird - they're endemic to Espanola. They always tried to steal our food when I was living there
Male lava lizard
so pretty
a precious baby Waved Albatross at Punta Suarez on Espanola - these guys have a special place in my heart because I was in charge of monitoring them when I worked there
so innocent....they used to puke fish oil all over me when I picked them up to weigh and measure them
two adults flirting in the bushes
gentle giants
they mate for life and live 60+ years - only breed every other year, and lay only one egg
let the dance begin...
they have so many more maneuvers, but this pair wasn't completely in the mood for dancing
view from Punta Suarez
huge cliffs and crashing waves
blue-green tide pools
there's a blow hole here
incoming!!!!
so clumsy on land, but ever so graceful in the air - they have like a 7 ft wing span - they're dynamic soarers, so they can stay on the wing for hours without expending much energy
another young'un
They sit on what looks like their knees, backwards - but it's really their ankles - until they learn to walk up on their toes, or feet - It's like watching a toddler learn to walk!
pair o' blue foots
The female has a larger iris, and the male a smaller iris
flirting Nazca boobies
a marine iguana gang sunbathing
king of the rock
i love their fluffy heads when they talk like that!
you can see his nictating membrane - like a really thin filmy eyelid
view of beach at Punta Suarez - visitors aren't allowed at Punta Cevallos, where our camp was
nap time
more nap time
Greater Flamingo on Floreana island
So funny-looking!
This is the brackish lagoon where they hang out
A nesting area for the flamingos...look closely, there's a fluffy gray baby flamingo!
Green sea turtle tracks on Floreana - they come up to nest on this beach
Sting ray at my feet! We shuffled through the sand so as not to step on them...there were like 15-20 floating over our feet!!
You can see the group of sting rays just where the water line is
poor guy, partied too hard
a Sally light foot crab bubbling at the mouth
Sesuvium plant - really beautiful succulent plant that comes in many shades of green, yellow, red and orange
Avena comercial
a family of dolphins found us just off the coast of Floreana!
so cool!!!!
Rogelio at the entrance to a lava tunnel on Floreana
that was COLD water!
It goes back another 20 m or so, and we walked as far as we could...the water got up to our necks and it was PITCH dark....I actually only went as far as my waist.
the climb back out
the famous Post Office barrel on Floreana - this was the first island inhabited by people (many strange stories of its original residents, like the twisted tale of the Baroness and her suitors) - they would leave mail here for passing ships to pick up
a closer look - you can leave postcards and pick up postcards to deliver for people
a female Great Frigate following us
i forget the name of this tree, sorry
Swallow-tailed gulls and their egg, isn't it pretty?
young Great Frigate - I love their orange heads
Land iguana!
Displaying male Great Frigate
closer look...they make the funniest 'woo woo woo' sounds when they're really flirting, it reminds me of one of the three stooges
look at my pretty blue feet!
the lovely Galapagos dove
Our Dutch friends walking on South Plaza Island
the famous marine iguana! - this is the only iguana in the world that actually swims in the ocean - they look like Godzilla when they graze algae off of rocks
so cute - I love their perpetual smile
a mass of frigates and lava gulls fighting over the placenta of a newly born sea lion
here's the mama, still bloody :)
yummmm...
a lava gull - endemic to just a few of the islands
Daphne minor island with a flock of storm petrels...not sure which ones, maybe fork-tailed?
View from a beach on the northern side of Santa Cruz - I went snorkeling here...ahhhh
just scrumptious! That's Daphne major island in the background, where a lot of the Darwin's finch research has been conducted by Peter and Rosemary Grant
what a life
Brown Pelican watching us uncertainly
a brackish lagoon where flamingos sometimes hang out
scrubby beach vegetation
View of Santiago island, I think
Beautiful landscape of Santa Cruz
Opuntia cactus
Semipalmated plover
where the Semipalmated plover was hanging out
our crew, all dressed up!!
we had a welcome cocktail and a farewell cocktail for each new group of tourists :) - It was a nice sized boat, with 15 tourists plus the crew plus me, the stowaway.
Red-footed booby! - the only booby here that perches and nests in trees - This is Genovesa island, it was my first time here!
more Darwin's finches on Genovesa - I believe these are Large Ground Finches.
a Nazca booby baby
another young Great Frigate with his orange head
They have such tiny feet that they can't perch or walk, they just have to land in the right place and stay there - But they're extremely acrobatic in the air - They're cleptoparasites...they steal food from gulls and boobies and stuff by pestering and chasing them until they regurgitate their last meal..mmmmm
a view from atop a cliff on Genovesa - it's a huge lava field filled with birds
a lava gull talking to his mate
beautiful lava cactus - there's not much else growing up here
another Darwin's finch...not sure what this one is, maybe Medium Ground finch - They're really hard to tell apart sometimes
a Galapagos Mockingbird decided that Magne's head was a good perch
no fear!
admiring baby - Nazca boobies are obligately siblicidal, which means the chick that hatches first will always push the second chick out of the nest to starve or be eaten by frigates or crabs. It would be really difficult for the parents to raise two young because they have to travel far to bring back fish for them
trying to flap - I used to weigh and measure these babies, they poop a lot
gimme some food, dad!
Red-footed booby face...I love the blue and red!
Galapagos morning glory
another Darwin's finch....ummmm....how about one of the tree finches? sheesh
the white morph of the Red-footed Booby getting a stretch
the pathway down from the cliffs on Genovesa
the waiting pangas
this grafiti is really old, I think it said 1952...not even these remote islands are untouched by vandalism
awwww
so precious
fuzzy face!
the beach at Genovesa
just delicious
baby Red-footed booby
This is the only island where they occur in any numbers
This is a young Magnificent Frigate - there aren't as many of them as there are Great frigates
view toward the other side of the caldera - Genovesa is basically one huge submerged crater
a young Yellow-crowned Night Heron
an ugly young Swallow-tailed gull - I always think they look like they've been given a black eye
scrubby habitat on Genovesa
This is blurry, but I think it's a Large Ground Finch
Swallow-tailed Gull family with a ping pong ball
Looking toward the entrance to the crater - it's a big circle with an opening on one side
big cliffs, that's where we walked that morning
I love their eyes! This guy was sitting right beside me, maybe 3 feet away
They have this curious habit of randomly glancing at their feet every once in a while - yep, still there!
wonder what he's thinking about
They stand like this for several minutes at a time, mating at intervals - looks like they're having fun
a view of Pinnacle rock on isla Bartolome
view from above :)
Galapagos spurge on Bartolome
Looks like a moonscape!
This is one of the youngest islands, so not much lives on it yet
lava tubes running down
a Painted locust, I think
more lava tubes
dry and rocky
pioneer plants
Galapagos racer - non venomous :)
so cute - he probably eats the locusts
barren and wild
the china hat - although I think it looks like a Pizza Hut roof
looking off to Santiago island
the climb up to the top
the most famous view in the islands! Pinnacle rock was not formed naturally that way, it was used for target practice by the Ecuadorian or US armies that had a base here
We went snorkeling around Pinnacle rock - I saw my first manta ray!!! It came right at us over a ledge of rock, and we startled each other - so HUGE!
that's a relatively new lava flow in the background - happened like 100 years ago
Scoria cone
view of craters from above - love that blue water!
the adorable Galapagos penguin!!
It was hard to get good pics of them because we were on a bobbing boat
got an itch
we got to swim with them - they literally fly through the water!
I love their little stubby legs - they have to waddle and hop around on land
the other half of our group
I think this is the Wedge-rumped Storm Petrel - they dabble their feet on the surface of the water to attract their prey
it's like they're dancing!
Green Sea Turtle cove on Santa Cruz island
we took a panga ride to look for Sea Turtles in the mangroves
and we found them! as well as some sharks, rays and other cool stuff
a Blue-footed Booby watching the sunset
Opuntia cactus pads
a lovely bright-colored Land iguana
the landscape on North Seymour island
Land iguana in her den
hanging out
what was once a bull sea lion - life and death here is right out in the open
a live bull, and a big one! They used to chase us out of the water when we were taking baths on Espanola
I love all the oranges and reds
Smile!
They eat the cactus fruits, but they have to wait for them to fall from the tree - So you'll often find several iguanas just sitting and waiting under a cactus tree - They have extremely slow metabolism and live a really long time
The fisherman's pier in the town of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz
begging Brown Pelicans
I believe this is a Medium Ground Finch
Opuntia flower
The various shell shapes of the famous Galapagos tortoises
a baby!
The pen for the babies that will be reintroduced to Espanola
They're raised til they're 5 or 6 years old, then taken back to their island of origin - There's a different species for most of the islands
Lonesome George's home at the Charles Darwin Research Station
Lonesome George! He's between 60-90 years old, the last surviving member of his species from Pinta island
But he's no longer quite so lonesome....he just mated with two different females, finally, after like 36 years!! - So now there are 11 eggs being incubated for 100 days, and we'll see what happens...
a Santa Cruz mockingbird singing for us...wish you could hear the video I got of him!
contemplating life
thick skin!
that looks painful
so regal
almost looks fake!
make way for mr. tortoise!
slurpppp
one of the saddleback variety
a parting shot of the humid and green highlands of Santa Cruz, totally different from the rest of the islands
