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. 
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