Day 8 - 7/30 - Santiago Island (Day 5 in Galapagos)

Early Morning Hike through Playa Espumilla, Santiago -

Today was the earliest activity we’ve had so far. We left on a zodiac at 6:30 am for Playa Espumilla on Santiago Island (the second largest of the islands). Carlos, our favorite Naturalist, walked us through the inland areas where we saw vast sandy spaces littered with thousands of holes from fiddler crabs. We hiked through a dense forest of mangrove trees (just amazing - I felt like a little kid exploring the woods and scouting out tree house property) and up a small mountain, where we saw mockingbirds, finches, and a Galapagos hawk. At the top of the mountain, Carlos explained how during the wet season a large waterfall forms across the trail we were walking through. We finished our hike back on the beach and saw a few dozen sea turtle nests (no babies/eggs were visible), as well as pelicans and Masked boobies (aka Nazca boobies) hunting for breakfast.

Morning Snorkeling @ Buccaneer Cove, Santiago - 

KH and I went snorkeling at Buccaneer’s Cove after breakfast today. This area of Santiago is named such, because it was once visited/occupied by pirates. As we disembarked from the main ship, a few people saw what the crew had written down for today’s water temperature…a balmy 67 degrees (yesterday when I was shivering in the water the temperature was 70…woof).  Our snorkeling site was against a jagged cliff and we were instructed to swim along the cliff until the very end, where we could swim into the cove. As we swam, we were able to maneuver throughout large chunks of the cliff that once fell off the mainland. Tons of animals lived in the small crevices created by these rocks, including barnacles, pyramid sea stars, parrot fish, king angelfish, and a huge manta ray laying at the bottom of the ocean. As we swam into the cove, the water got colder and much darker than anything I’ve ever swam in; I couldn’t really see anything, except the legs of people in front of me. As we navigated toward the back of the cove, KH spotted a sea lion doing laps and summersaults around us. Of course we frantically tried to follow him, but it was too dark inside the cove, and none of our videos of him playing were clear enough to see…womp womp. 

Afternoon Long Hike/Swim at Puerto Egas Santiago -

Around 2 in the afternoon, we took a zodiac from our ship to Puerto Egas, a different area of Santiago than we’ve seen yet. As we arrived on the beach, a sea lion was circling our zodiac and several other sea lions were laying on the sand. Even after we laid down towels for people to layout or go snorkeling, the sea lions walked through our “camp” and over our towels, bag, etc. - it is their home first!  KH saw more fish, sea anemones, lime green sea urchins, and a sting ray while snorkeling. Meanwhile, I was busy harassing a 2 week-old sea lion pup - I have tons of video to share when I get home (and pictures below). We spent about two hours on the beach, during which we were able to see how the alpha males (there were two for this particular group) interacted with their females (multiple) and pups. 

Our naturalists, Fernando, warned us that the alpha males are aggressive about their territory and that we should keep our distance from him/them. Of course, one then proceeded to swim right up to me. It’s those moments (and we’ve been fortunate enough to have many down here) that I remember these are wild animals…with very sharp teeth! After our time on the beach, we went on a hike inland on the island. We got to see our first fur seals (picture below), which look similar to sea lions, but have larger heads, denser fur that looks like hair, and are generally fatter in the midsection…think Santa Clause in seal form.  These particular seals were hanging around a collapsed lava tunnel that the locals have named “Darwin's Toilet,” because of how the water flushes in and out from the ocean. Fernando explained that fur seals were hunted for a long time and are therefore less trusting/friendly toward humans than the sea lions. Tomorrow we are visiting the Charles Darwin Research Center (YES!!!) and having lunch in the highlands of Santa Cruz, where the tortoise populations are very dense…we’re both hoping to see a very old, large Lonesome George relative…we will see! 

1. Fun Fact: A barnacle’s penis is the longest invertebrate penis relative to body size - thanks for that Carlos

2. Fun Fact: The locals call the blue footed boobies “bluebies” and the red footed boobies “rubies" 

 Morning hike on Santiago

 Bucaneers' Cove Snorkeling

 Afternoon hike on Santiago Island

 sea lion napping at Puerto Egas

 2 week-old sea lion pup

 again...adorable! 

 Santiago 

 grasshopper at Puerto Egas

 Baby sea lions snuggling 

 Same two sea lions...not snuggling 

 Fur seal in "Darwin's Toilet" lava tunnel

Day 7 - 7/29 - Isabela Island (Day 4 in Galapagos)

Big day à hike, kayak, snorkel, hike No one is required to do any activity but Katie and I are in constant fear of missing something so we pack it all in.  All events were on Isabela Island today, which is the largest island made from six different volcanoes.  It’s the one shaped like a seahorse on the map.

Urbina Bay Hike – this was the longest hike we’ll do here.  Only two miles but we were warned it can be very hot.  We started under clouds so not too bad.  This was not Katie’s favorite hike but payoff was at the end.  Rigorous trail in the beginning because it wound through marine reef that was uplifted 15’ in 1954.  Coral was everywhere on the first half mile inland.  We saw several yellow land iguanas but many more of their burrows.  I was excited to finally see a giant tortoise (~80 yrs old) sitting right in the middle of the path and later we saw a young one half its size.  Finches and mockingbirds flitting around but we had a bad problem with paper wasps.  They were thick and people were freaking out.  No one in our group got stung though.  At the end of the hike was what made Katie get over the wasps – we could go for a swim to cool off and the water felt great.  Soon after we got in, pelicans and a blue-footed booby started dive-bombing for fish all around us.  We got some amazing pics but they were doing this within 6’ of us!  Then we noticed some penguins darting around and they would watch the pelicans dive and then speed over to get the scraps.  Amazing – we couldn't stop laughing.

Tagus Cove Kayaking – We signed up for the tandem kayaking.  It was more for scenery and exercise.  We were told we wouldn’t see much wildlife but some neat birds, sea turtles, and a few sea lions arcing out of the water as they went by.  We were a little rusty with the paddles but got pretty good coordinating by the end.  Oddly, there is a lot of graffiti on the cliffs in this area.  How they got to some of those places I have no idea but I wonder the same thing in Chicago.

Tagus Cove Snorkeling – You know you’re spoiled when a gorgeous variety of fish, marine iguanas, and sea turtles are an OK snorkeling day.  Then the penguins came. Usually they’re so fast and they zoom by, but we watched a few hunting in this small cove for quite a while – they were seemingly so unaware of us they’d almost bump into us because their focus was down on the fish.  Once, they both swam on either side of me so close I could have reached out and touched them.  So adorable – they were my highlight snorkeling.  Although seeing the flightless cormorant hunting underwater was a thrill also.

Tagus Cove Hike – After snorkeling we had exactly 20 minutes to clean snorkeling gear, dry off, change clothes, and line up for the late afternoon hike.  It was a strenuous but scenic hike up 1000’ on the rim of a tuff cone overlooking Darwin Lake.  Strange trees, a barren volcanic plain, and some graffiti dating back to 1836 in the stone.  This is one of the stops Darwin made on the Beagle in 1835.  Gorgeous.

 Land Iguana 

 First tortoise sighting - 80+ years old!

 Flightless Cormorant - beautiful birds

 Urbina Bay

 Pelican 

 Darwin's Lake - Tagus Cove, Isabela 

 Tagus Cove 

 Urbina Bay

 Cormorants drying their wings

 7,000 YO Coral! Inland! Incredible.

 Penguino :) Kelly's BFF

 Yellow Warbler

Day 6 - 7/28 - Fernandina & Isabela (Day 3 in Galapagos)

I know I keep saying this, but seriously, today was AMAZING! Over night we traveled 90 nautical miles to an area in the pacific just between Fernandina and Isabela. KH woke up early and was able to spot dolphins and “blow hole action,” a clear sign that whales were in the area! 

Morning Hike on Fernandina Island 

This is the newest island of all the Galapagos and there are even “lava ribbons” that are only 4 years old, a result of the most recent volcanic eruption (today we saw black ash spurting from the volcano).  The terrain is made entirely of black lava rock, lava ribbons, white sand, and such little greenery that the little the island has pops out. Our Naturalist Gaby told us that all the water on this island is salt-water, except for the very top of the volcano, where freshwater can be found; however, it takes over a days hike to reach this summit. While on the island, we hiked through the different types of lava - the blackness of the igneous rock made the island incredibly hot - and saw hundreds of black marine iguanas, sea lions (mostly babies), flightless cormorants, and sea turtles! Again, the animals, have no fear, and so there were times when we were stepping in between the marine iguanas who refused to move. The Black Marine Iguanas are so rare, because the Galapagos are the only place they live int he entire world and they are the only marine iguanas in the entire world as well. We took more video of them swimming and it is unreal how similar they move compared to crocodiles. In addition to the Black Marine Iguanas, we saw a Bandit Snake, also black. It is amazing to see how all these animals have adapted in regard to their volcanic environment - something Darwin touched on in regard to natural selection. 

Afternoon Snorkel on Isabela Island @ Punta Vicente Roca

WOW! I didn’t think snorkeling today could be better than yesterday, but it was by far the greatest thing we’ve done yet. Our zodiac took us to a of cove on Isabela Island known for its scuba diving and high populations of sea turtles. Within two minutes, we saw sea turtles who seemed to effortlessly float through the water, occasionally stopping to nibble on some algae. They were so majestic and fearless that at one point, one almost floated into me! About 20 minutes in to our adventure, we finally spotted penguins! They were tiny and incredibly fast - almost like they were being shot out of a canon. We got amazing video of this, but our blog is being dumb and it won’t let us upload it - I’ll try again when we’re back home. We also had an incredible encounter with a curious and mischievous sea lion who got within a foot of me at one point - just incredible! As we swam around the coast of Isabela and into a shallower nook, we witnessed the “hang out” spot of more than 5 dozen sea turtles. It was breath taking. Some were small and active, whereas others were HUGE (literally, more than 6 ft. tall and 5 ft. wide….seriously) and lazily laid on the ocean floor. As were loaded back onto the zodiac to come home, we again saw a giant manta, just hovering at the surface. There are truly no words for how amazing today and this afternoon were - possibly the most exciting moments of my life. Tomorrow, we get to go kayaking and snorkeling again; the only animals left on our bucket list are the Galapagos tortoises and any type of whale! Our naturalists have assured us that the tortoises are a definite within the next few days and that the whales are a real possibility! Fingers crossed!!! 

At the end of the day, the entire boat had a champagne toast as we crossed the equator - it was right around sunset and incredibly beautiful. 

Fun Fact: The Galapagos Islands are the coldest place that exists on the equator.

 Green sea turtle! 

 lava cactus

sea lion - aka Katie's BFF

 predator-prey relationships :)

 Very windy day....

 Black Marine Iguana - the only marine iguanas in the world

 Aggregations of Black Marine Iguanas warming themselves

 and more...

Rabida Pix con'd - 7/27

Rabida Island - snorkeling and evening hike.  Katie has an awesome short video of the posing sea lion as it comes out of the water but can't seem to upload it now.  Will try again later or post on return.

Nursing pup

Poser :)

Ok, not he best shot of the manta but it was pretty far off at this point to give you an idea on size.  Immense - even our naturalists were pretty excited to see this - said it was between 15 and 20 feet wide! YIKES!

Brackish pool with plovers, oystercatchers, and warbler

Here's the back end of the marine iguana as is swam away.  Couldn't keep up with him. All tail propulsion I think.

These were one of Katie's highlights today.  (I didn't mind too much either.)  We'll see more and hopeful swim with them.

Day 5 - 7/27 - N. Seymour & Rabida Islands (Day 2 on Galapagos)

OK – We are literally living a dream.  I had no idea how wonderful this trip would be.  Katie made a good point – it’s like being in a zoo where there are no cages, the animals have no fear so you can get close, the zoo keepers are our walking naturalists that have already shared so many fascinating facts on geology, ecology, animal behavior, evolution and natural history that I can’t write them in my journal fast enough, and the setting is bizarre and otherworldly.  And this is only our first full day in Galapagos!

Morning hike on North Seymour Island – this was the key opportunity for seeing Blue Footed Boobies and mating Frigate birds, both Majestic and Great types and we saw it all.  Frigate males were puffing their red balloon-like throats looking for mates, many baby birds were around in various stages of development and plumage, Boobies were doing mating dances and also had full white babies trying their weak wings on the strong wind from their nests.  To see all this we stepped over a few sea lions and scurrying crabs onto black boulders. 

Snorkeling off the coast of Rabida, the red island – we chose to do the deep water snorkeling as opposed to practicing along the beach.  Thank goodness we did because it’s going to be tough to top the sightings today.  So many amazing species of fishes but the highlights on the trip were a penguin speeding through, marine iguanas feeding underwater and then swimming along the surface (so prehistoric looking), small shark, spotted eel, and oh yeah, a GIANT MANTA RAY!!!!!  About 15 feet across and it was close!  Beautiful to watch. 

 Male Magnificent Frigate 

 Again...sexual selection 

 Blue Footed Boobie!

Afternoon hike on Rabida Island – this was more scenic than for wildlife.  Gorgeous time of day for this as you’ll hopefully see from the pictures.  Mocking birds are everywhere here and were really the first bird that grabbed Darwin’s attention on the islands.  Hopped right on our guide’s foot and made lovely chirps.  Sea lions basked on the red sand and posed for our video.  Some plovers, oyster catchers, and golden warblers were around too.  There are also owls here and we know because we saw the wing of a petrel on the ground.  Owls eat everything of their prey but the wings.

Despite the owl presence, in general most animals on these islands die of starvation due to lack of predators.  

No master animal sighting for today – we saw too much and we’re too tired to complete it but it was truly a wonderful day.  So grateful for this opportunity!

PS - Service, organization, food, and people working for this company are top notch.

This is what we wake up to!

Darwin thought these islands were "hell on Earth."  North Seymour.

Brown pelican stretching its wings.

Female Magnificent Frigate bird on her nest. 

Baby Blue Footed Booby.  Neither young nor old boobies have blue feet.

Male Frigate showing off.  They make a strange beating trill when they do this.

Swallow tailed gulls.

Land iguana - about 3'

Lounging - almost tripped over these.

Females honk and males whistle to each other.