Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Our ship anchored on the north end of Santa Cruz Island. We had one final morning excursion on Bachas Beach before we sailed to nearby Baltra Island with its airport.
Just inland from the beach landing was a brackish pond with one Flamingo.
On The Road – lashonharangue – Galapagos – Part 8Post + Comments (11)
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.
On The Road – lashonharangue – Galapagos – Part 7Post + Comments (7)
We next sailed way north to the island of Genovesa. Having already seen blue footed boobies, it was time to meet the red footed ones. But there were plenty of other birds there as well.
After a short hike from the shore we saw birds almost everywhere along the trail. Here was one of the red footed boobies. I like how the blue beak and eye ring contrast with the feet.
On The Road – lashonharangue – Galapagos – Part 6Post + Comments (8)
Still on Santa Cruz Island, we continued driving up the mountain toward the private tortoise reserve. The terrain became mostly large green fenced pastures, some with cattle. Driving down a dirt road we started to spot the tortoises. Apparently they can share the pastures with the cattle.
This photo might be better in BJ After Dark. Before we got to the reserve we all got off the bus to take some x-rated photos. As you can see the males are much bigger than the females.
On The Road – lashonharangue – Galapagos – Part 5Post + Comments (11)
This post will cover an excursion to Santiago Island on the fourth day of the trip and a few photos from the start on day five on Santa Cruz. You will have to wait until the next post to see the giant tortoises. Sorry but I needed a separate post just for them.
Santiago Island was formed from two overlapping volcanoes. The one to the west is taller. The one to the south east is lower and erupted about 120 years ago. We landed in the south east on the fourth day. Later in the trip the ship circled back to Santiago on the west side.
On The Road – lashonharangue – Galapagos – Part 4Post + Comments (5)
Sailing west overnight, we anchored off of Rabida island, which is just south of the much larger island of Santiago. The next morning, we had to disembark from the inflatable boats onto a narrow rocky place, and then hike up the cliff to get to the trail.
This gives an indication of how high we had to climb up from the ocean. Not a huge climb but pretty steep.
On The Road – lashonharangue – Galapagos – Part 3Post + Comments (9)
Sailing northwest overnight from San Cristobal we anchored off the small uninhabited island of North Seymour. North Seymour was created by seismic uplift, rather than being of volcanic origin. As a result, it is pretty flat – its highest elevation is about 90 feet. It is a popular breeding ground for several types of ocean going birds.
Swallow-tailed gulls spend most of their life flying and hunting over the open ocean, preying on squid and small fish. It is the only fully nocturnal gull in the world.
On The Road – lashonharangue – Galapagos – Part 2Post + Comments (16)