Galapagos February 2019

Thursday, February 21   Santa Cruz Island, Charles Darwin Research Station A highlight of the trip, today we landed on Santa Cruz Island to visit the Charles Darwin Research Station and then take a hike looking for the giant tortoises.   The research station is just outside of the town of Puerto Ayora, population 18,000.   We landed at the dock and went to the entrance of the Galapagos National Park where the captive breeding center is.   We saw babies and juveniles: After touring the station, we met at a local café in town called “The Rock” which had an unusual mural on the wall: From there we drove about ½ hour up into the highlands of the island to a small farm where they grew sugar cane and bananas.   We tried making cane juice: We visited a still where the owner makes his own moonshine, 160 proof.   We tried a little and eroded a bit of our esophageal mucosa: The bananas were very flavorful and so...

Wednesday, February 20, 2019 Santiago Island Today we began with a 6:00 AM pre-breakfast one-mile hike to Playa Espumilla on Santiago Island, a prime spot for sea turtle nesting.   It was truly amazing. On the beach were Galapagos Oystercatchers:   And mockingbirds: But the major attraction was the female sea turtles. We came upon this one working her way to the sea, oh so slowly.   She’d take a couple of sand swim strokes and then stop and rest. Our naturalist said she’d be truly exhausted from her night of dragging herself up to the mangrove shelter above the high tide mark, digging a hole, laying the eggs, covering the hole and then dragging herself back to the edge of the surf. We came upon this nest, built too close to the high-water mark: And then we spotted this one, covering her nest.   We followed her progress all the way down the beach, a process which took about 30 minutes.   Here’s the abbreviate...

Tuesday, February 19 Urbina Bay and Tagus Cove, Isabela Island Isabela Island is by far the largest island in the archipelago, making up more than half the land mass.   It was formed by the fusion of six “shield volcanoes” and is shaped like a seahorse.   After breakfast, at 8:00 AM, we disembarked for a hike at Urbina Bay.   We set off after changing into our hiking shoes, as it was a “wet landing” which means we exited the Zodiacs in about two feet of water. The major population of Galapagos Tortoises is on other islands, but we hoped to see some here.   Right on the trail was a collection of poop and we had a briefing on the identification of critters from finding their poop.   Yes, this collection included that of the tortoise. The land iguanas are all over the place; here’s today’s portrait: The prominent flowering tree here is the Muyuyo, which has bright yellow flowers: And we indeed found tortoises: Back...

Monday, February 18, 2019 Fernandina and Isabela Islands Another phenomenal day.   We disembarked at 7:45 AM after breakfast for Punta Espinoza on Fernandina island in the far west of the archipelago.   Fernandina is volcanic, and very active, with the most recent eruption being last year!   We had a 1.5 mile hike on the island.   There are lots of blue-footed boobies here, so one photo for today: It’s amazing to watch them dive for fish.   We also saw a striated heron: Most of the island is lava, and there is a large population of marine iguanas.   Sometimes they snuggle together to conserve heat: We came to the only beach with fine rocks and sand, and this is the only area on the island where females can dig the deep holes in which they lay their eggs.   Thus, the beach was crowded with busy female marine iguanas digging holes in which to lay their eggs.   I have great video clips, but don’t have the bandwith to ...

Sunday, February 17, 2019 Oh, my, what a day.   Up at 6:30, breakfast at 6:45.   We were surprised by our family with great t-shirts which said on the front, “55 years and the adventures continue” and on the back was an image of my 1963 New Hampshire license plate which was “VP & JF”.     We left by Zodiac at 7:30 for a “dry landing” on North Seymour Island for a 2 km hike.   The rules here require that we’re off of this island by 10:00 AM.   It was somewhat rigorous in the heat and humidity, but what amazing sights.   The island is volcanic, and the first part of the walk was on volcanic boulders.   Fauna included land iguanas: Swallowtail gulls: And our favorites, Blue-footed Boobies: We saw many frigate birds, the males preening to attract the females who decide with which male they’d like to mate: The males help incubate the eggs: The eggs are hatching now: ...