Overview Review Part One

David - Blogging with no access to internet except for an hour during the trip is difficult.  It gets even worse when you try to type on a small vessel that is constantly bouncing so I decided to just try to give a summery of the trip.  We visited many islands, some twice, but, of those, the locations did not look the same.  We saw more Marine Iguanas than I could count, lots of Lava Lizards, and many Boobies.  We saw Red Footed Boobies, Nasca Boobies, and Blue Footed Boobies (Birds).  We saw Great and Magnificent Frigate Birds and the Galapagos Penguins.  A few Finches and Wrens, Storm Petrels, Galapagos Owl, and the Galapagos Hawk.  Interesting note about the penguin; we saw them on two islands they are rarely seen on.  We also met two species of herons.  We were constantly visited by Galapagos Sea Lions and Fur Seals while visiting islands and snorkeling.  We met Giant Tortoises on three islands and visited the Tortoise Breeding Center on Isabella Island.  While snorkeling and wading and swimming we shared the water with white tip sharks, green sea turtles, sea lions, penguins, and lots of fish to include puffer, parrot, and a whole lot more.  Sea urchins, barnacles, sea stars, and sea slugs also abound.

We visited volcanic beaches that ranged in color from black to gold to red.  The islands varies in shape and composition.  Some where shield type while others are stratovolcanos and cinder cone.  Many islands still show evidence of lava flow and some islands are actually a combination of many islands that were joined when lava from one eruption surrounded existing volcanic islands.  When we walked over lava flows we observer how quickly or slowly the lava cooled.  We also could determine how viscus the lava was and the amount of gases present in the flow.

Vegetation is interesting on the islands.  Our guide, Galapagos National Park certified, Fabian Sanchez (the BEST guide I have ever met) told us that 80% of the vegetation in the Galapagos is DRY Tropical Forest.  this explained why most of the vegetation we saw looked more grey than green.  This doesn't mean there wasn't any green vegetation; just that there wasn't a lot.  Vegetation on each island adopted to the animals that live there or the animals that don't.  Example cactus.  Islands without land iguanas have cactus with longer, softer thorns.  Islands with land iguanas have cactus with shorter, harder thorns.  Also the availability of moisture and even soil determine what plants are present.  Many plants are flowering and pollination can be self, wind blown or insect driven.

Galapagos - June 20

Sea lions and gulls near Darwin Bay. Frigate birds in flight.

Genovesa

June 20 – David. Today we visited Genovesa Island where frigate birds and red-footed boobies nest.  The male Great Frigate’s were interesting with their red sacks under their beaks puffed out trying to attract a mate.  We even found a happy couple nesting in a tree.  She had her head resting against his red pillow.  It was so romantic.  We were also introduced to the Galapagos Sea Lion.  It has a longer snout than the Galapagos Fur Seal (really a sea lion) which we saw later.  We later went snorkeling in search of hammerhead sharks and while we saw sharks on our way to the snorkel site we did not see any while snorkeling.  We finished the day walking up a steep narrow path up a cliff after disembarking from zodiac on what is referred to as a dry landing and saw Nazca Boobies and the Galapagos Owl hunting small birds called Storm-Petrels.  I need to explain the two different types of landings.  Dry means we are not supposed to get wet while wet means we wade ashore.  Our means of transport to the beach is zodiac.

M/V Floreana

June 19 – David.  6:30 am  Gil and I, along with Teresa and Lona, the two teachers from Minn. who are also Fund for Teacher recipients going to the Galapagos, met or ride to the Quito airport.  Our ride is from Latin Roots who represents Holbrook travel in Ecuador.  Check in was interesting as you go to a Galapagos window to check in, have your check in bags x-rayed and sealed, then you go through normal check in where you turn in your bags and get your boarding pass.  The flight was long and uneventful with one stop along the way except for the landing on Baltra  Island.  Strong cross wind.  The pilot got a round of applause for the successful landing.  We went through a process similar to customs but we were entering a national park that is a protected area.  They were making sure we weren’t bringing in illegal items that might contaminate the Galapagos.  We were met by our guide Fabian and bussed to the boat, the M/Y Floreana, secured our luggage and went to see giant tortoises at a ranch in the highlands on Santa Cruz island.  Santa Cruz is one of the islands in the Galapagos populated by humans.  The tortoises looked like huge rocks peeking out of the tall grass.  We saw about 8.  We then went into a partially collapsed lava tube that was actually two lava tubes, one above the other.  It reminded me of Ruby Falls.  We the returned to the boat and made a long night cruise to our first stop.  End of Day 1.

Galapagos - June 20

Darwin Bay,  Genovesa Island
Great Frigate birds were mating.
The male attracts the female mostly by displaying his red, inflated chest and calling to the female. This fellow has captured the attention of a female with pride in his success.

Blogging Difficulties

We will try to catch up blogs later. Having problems getting Internet to publish blogs .

Galapagos - June 19

Santa Cruz Island
Giant tortoise in Highland Forest habitat.
Darwin finches. Egrets.
Invasive species: cattle, donkeys, dogs, cats, and guava trees.
Lava tubes both collapsed and intact.
Red coloration in rock indicative of oxidized iron.