Galapagos - Day 2

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Early in the morning we cruise to Sante Fe and after a hearty breakfast head to shore. There are plenty of sealions to greet us. Alexis, our guide, explains the differences between sealions and seals but we get interrupted by the arrival of a young hawk. We walk up through the scrubby rocky low lying neighbourhood and see plenty of lava lizards and several land iguanas. Another young hawk also appears. The frigate birds fly overhead, they have long forked tails and the males have that impressive bulging red throat when excited.

Near the end of the walk - and no surprises I am near the back again - a hawk lands on a branch right besides the track. Nothing seems to have any fear of us. The sealions lie across the path and just walk ( not hop like seals) right past up. Others on the viewing list include the land iguana, hawk, lava lizard, Galapagos dove and yellow warblers.

In the afternoon - a visit to the bridge, very modern with all electronic navigation devices etc. A great view from up there, which is just as well really.

We motor to the small island of Plaza Sur. It is like a moonscape with red low ground cover and cacti (prickly pear) spread around it. It is quite low, and small. We see our first marine iguanas, not as many as we thought we would, spread out over the beach area. Lots of sealions again. You would think you would stop taking photos of them after awhile but the seem to learn new cute tricks for the tourists. We see lots of Frigates, more warblers.

I experiment with the sports multi shot mode on my camera and get some amazing photos, mainly of the sky, or with a wingtip of a bird passing through!

The highlight at the end of the walk was when Alexis investigated why a seal was calling so much. It had just given birth to a pup. Of course this was the moment when my camera froze so I had to trade with Pauline for a photo later in the evening.

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