January 2, 2013

Ecuador: The Galapagos Islands Part 1

Agnes south america, travel

So ahhhh I’m finally up to the Galapagos (yes friends, we are almost at the end of the trip posts).

HOMIGAWD we went to the Galapagos. Yes, it was fricken amazing.

Anyway, blah blah blah, you know all about the Galapagos Islands – they’re a cluster of volcanic islands famed for the vast number of species unique to the islands.

After Quito, we took a morning flight to Baltra in the Galapagos Islands. After arrival, we were ferried to Santa Cruz Island, and met up with our home for the next four days – the boat Yate Darwin.

PS: no food in this post… just photos and my squazzing out about wildlife.

On Santa Cruz, we got to see Giant tortoises. AHHHHHHH. They are so awesome – LOOK AT THAT FACE. And they breathe like Darth Vader. AHHH again. I think this one was about 60-70 years old.

We saw a lot of blue footed boobys.

On the second day, we went ashore to Santiago Island.

There were TONS of marine iguanas basking in the sun.

And this baby sea lion kept waddling closer and closer. It was probably about 3 weeks old. CUTE. None of the wildlife had any fear of people.

There were lots of crabs.

And more iguanas.

Also, sea turtles. 🙂

We also paid a visit to Bartolome Island, where we walked to the summit.

One side of Bartolome Island has amazing black lava formations.

There were so many different lava flow shapes. This one was my favourite.

A lonely little lava cactus just hanging out. They’re one of the few plants that can survive on a lava field.

Bartolome wasn’t all lava flows – a different side had a beautiful white sand beach.

We got to see Galapagos penguins. 🙂 🙂 They’re the only living tropical penguin.

On our last day, we went ashore to North Seymour. This island is the nesting ground for the magnificent frigate bird. There were several male frigate birds doing their mating display.

There were also frigate bird chicks.

And blue footed booby chicks. So fluffy!

Baby sea lion suckling on its mum.

And here’s a blue footed booby sitting on an egg. 🙂

Okay flying bird series. Blue footed booby.

Flying frigate bird.

Masked booby.

Galapagos hawk!

Another blue footed booby.

I love love loved the Galapagos. Sadly, we didn’t have enough time – there are so many other islands to see and they all have their own unique characteristics and wildlife.

I must go back one day! (My wallet weeps at the thought.)

(Food from the Yate Darwin in the next post.)