In the morning, we took a guided Zodiak tour of the shoreline. Plenty of wildlife on the rocks. The bird that everyone's heard of when if comes to the Galapagos is the Boobie. The Boobies put on quite a show when they're feeding. With eyes in front of their heads, they size up the location of a fish underwater, dive straight in after it, eat it underwater, and take off to find another one. How they miss each other and the Zodiaks is a wonder. Here's one breed, the Nazca Boobie:
And the one everyone wants to see, the infamous Blue Footed Boobie:
We also saw Sea Lions, Pacific Green Sea Turtles, Galapagos Fur Seals, and Sally Lightfoot Crabs, but none of these are easy to photograph in the water, so we'll see them later. Marine Iguanas, however, do not move quickly. So here they are, sunning on the rocks:
A short trip brought us to Punta Espinoza, on Isla Fernandina. We disembarked for a walk on the lava flows.
Here's some of the interesting volcanic geography:
The lava flows:
There were animals everywhere!! You had to be careful not to step on the Marine Iguanas:
As you can see, they weren't very concerned about the humans as we navigated through the herd. They like to pose for pictures.
A rare sighting, up close, of a Galapagos Hawk.
Our guide explained the local nomenclature for the flora and fauna. Everything is named either Galapagos, Darwin, or Lava. Hence, Galapagos Penguin, Darwin Finch, or Lava Lizard. Whatever it is, it has one of those names attached to it. Except, of course, the Pacific Green Sea Turtle. These guys are almost impossible to photograph...they never come out of the water and only stick their head up quickly to breathe:
Two baby Galapagos Flightless Cormorants (mom is nearby, off to the left). We really were this close. The critters could care less about humans.
Sally Lightfoot, really colorful but very fast-moving, finally held still for a moment.
And, the Galapagos Mockingbird. There are four species of endemic mockingbirds in the Galapagos, all related but each is slightly different. Many historians believe that the mockingbird, more than any other organism (even the finches), had the greatest influence on Darwin's initial development of the concept of natural selection.
We left at 5 p.m. but didn't go far...just back across the way to Isla Isabela.
