On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
lashonharangue
We had already visited the east side of Santiago Island. From Genovesa we sailed southwest to the west side of Santiago. We got up early to land on a beach where Pacific green sea turtles lay their eggs. At the beach we saw lots of tracks from the previous night but most of the turtles had already gone back to the ocean. Once the sun is high it is too hot to make the trip back.
This female had recently buried her eggs above the high tide line and had started to head back to the water. Injured (see edge of her shell), and looking exhausted, she still persevered to lay her eggs, but was one of the last to return to the ocean.
She slowly made her way by using her front flippers.
Did I mention slowly?
While waiting I got this photo of a yellow warbler on the wet sand.
Taken near the water, I thought the caption for this photo should be “females get shit done.”
In the afternoon the ship moved to another cove and we kayaked along the shore.
These sea lions had hauled up on the rocks. I think they must have done it at high tide as it was pretty far above us.
The sun was setting on our last night aboard the ship. This was taken as we sailed from Santiago Island to the northern coast of Santa Cruz.
HinTN
What a great trip. Thanks for the photos and commentary.
Torrey
Thank you for sharing these photos. They’re a welcome start to the day.
Benw
Love the turtle photos!
Yutsano
Mama Turtle be like: “I’m too old for this shit.” Granted her job is basically done but still it’s probably tiring to pop out a bunch of eggs in the hope at least a few make it to the sea. Also love how there’s a variety of tortoises to see on Galapagos. No wonder the Ecuadorians keep it well preserved.
SkyBluePink
This series has been really enjoyable- thanks for sharing
way2blue
I can’t fathom how this tortoise’s shell was damaged. Will it heal somehow? Hopefully she had an easier go at things once in the water…
StringOnAStick
@way2blue: Its a sea turtle, not a land tortoise though they do lay their eggs on land like the latter does; these islands have both. The common causes of injuries to sea turtles are boat strikes and shark bite; I’ll bet this was a boat strike. The deep waters around these islands make them good fishing areas. The Ecuadorian Navy and regulatory entities spent a lot of time chasing off fishing board from other countries, mostly from Chile, we saw some of this when we were there 6 years ago and I’ve read its a constant problem.