Galapagos Trip, Day 6
Monday's morning excursion went to Punta Espinosa, on Fernandina Island. While the landing was dry we soon found that the tide had entered the mangrove forest we had to pass through to get to the trail. Some people elected to walk on tree trunks, but with my bad ankle I decided to remove my shoes and just walk through the water. Afterward we put our shoes back on.
When we reached the lava beds we found a partially reconstructed Minke whale skeleton. The guides had collected bones and set them up.
I really liked the stark white bones against the black rock.
I liked the rippling image of the pahoeyhoey lava rock.
As we were talking about the whale skeleton a Galapagos eagle landed in a tree not too far away. Another group of tourists was closer, so we waited for them to move off before approaching, but alas the eagle took flight. This is the best shot I could get. If it had stayed in the tree I would have had a much better shot. The Galapagos eagles are very interesting in terms of behavior- the females have as many as four or five mates and they all pitch in to raise the young.
Mangrove trees.
A lone sea lion bone on the black rock.
What is rock, and what is iguana? Sometimes it was hard to tell.
A lava lizard in the process of shedding. The lighter grey skin will slough away.
Another lava lizard shedding.
Billy Wong photographing a crab.
A crab in a rock.
I love the pose these two guys are in. The one on the left is just sprawled out, and the one on the right looks like he flopped down in midstride.
A sea lion skeleton.
Lava cactus digging into the rock.
A sleek wet sea lion.
Classic sea lion pose.
The main attraction on this island was the flightless cormorants!
There were quite a few grooming themselves.
A pelican perched nearby.
Marine iguanas as far as the eye can see.
This guy looks like he's ready to listen to your tale of woe.
A closeup of the beach. It's made up of sea urchin spines (luckily blunt spines) and shells.
When I arrived at this spot I was taken by the rippling pahoeyhoey lava. Then I noticed that beyond the lava were iguanas, blending in nearly perfectly with the lava and mimicking the shape of the lava. Neat!
The carcass of a sea lion pup, with lizard.
We headed back to the ship for lunch and resting up. The afternoon excursions were boat-related. My sister went on a snorkeling trip where the Zodiacs took the snorkelers to a deep water area and let them swim around. My mom and I hung out on the ship, and I finally got some pictures of the Zodiacs being loaded.
The Zodiac pilots/drivers were cool customers. For the most part they didn't interact with the tourists, leaving that to the guides. On our trip to CDRS, the ocean was pretty choppy and it was a fairly long ride to the island, about 20 minutes through rather high waves (for a Zodiac.) On our return trip a wave swamped the motor and it was a minute or so before the Zodiac driver got the motor restarted. We cheered him when he did so and the corner of his mouth curled up in a slight smile.
The boat was anchored in an area bursting with sea turtles. My mom and I watched them swimming around.
My mom decided to sit and have coffee.
A little later, the Zodiacs went out again with people who didn't want to snorkel. This time I went along with my camera.
Galapagos penguin! It honked at us a few times.
A closer view of the penguin.
Blurry bobbies. It was difficult to hold my camera steady in the bobbing Zodiac.
A common noddy (or brown noddy.) A new bird I hadn't seen yet.
Boobies and a noddy.
A sea lion splashed alongside the Zodiac. Very difficult to photograph.
Scary sea cave! We went into it and looked around. There were some turtles in there, but it was dark so they were difficult to photograph.
We emerged from the cave and revisited the penguin to find another had joined it.
The newcomer penguin.
Sea turtles! They were all over the place here. I'm not sure if it was nesting season or just a really good feeding spot.