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Published: July 28th 2005
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Blue-footed Boobies
The Blue-footed boobies are great. The males try to do anything to get the attention of the female... We were instructed to meet up at the pier at 5:30 am with everything we'd need for the day. Our boat was scheduled to leave the dock at 6am to start the 3+ hour drive to Espanola. Espanola is considered one of the best visitor sites in the Galapagos and we were looking forward to seeing more wildlife.
We arrived at Punta Suarez at around 9:30 am. Before disembarking, we had breakfast on board the boat (jam and cheese sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, tea or coffee). This was fine since we were all hungry, but none of us could have eaten anything on the ride over without feeling sick (very rocky). Then at about 10:30 am, after the cruise boat groups departed the island and moved on to their next destinations, we got to go onto the island. The National Park regulates the visitor sites. Each boat is assigned an itinerary of islands that they're allowed to visit. They can leave out sites, but they can't add on sites. Also, cruise boats are scheduled to visit the sites either early in the morning or mid-afternoon. This leaves the sites open for day trip visits during the late morning/early afternoon hours.
Blue-footed Boobies
they dance, whistle, pick up their feet... At Punta Suarez starts a trail that goes through different habitats. We got to see some impressive wildlife from the trail. We had our first Marine iguana sightings as we stepped onto the island. These guys eat algae out at sea. They periodically have to return to land to warm up in the sun as the waters are cold and slow down their body functions. If they stay out too long, they might not make it back. Several of the marine iguanas we saw were eliminating salt. They have salt glands behind their eyes that filter excess salt out of their systems. They snort the excess salt out with a loud hiss.
We saw the "maximum predator" (our guide's words, meaning top of the food chain) of the Galapagos, the Galapagos hawk feeding on a juvenile marine iguana. Our group had been joined that morning by three Spanish-speakers from the LA area (two amusing older women and a twenty-something that had never seen convertible pants before). When one of the grannies learned that the hawk ate iguanas, eggs, and even baby sea lions, she gasped and asked, "Why don't they kill them all?" Our guide explained that the hawk
Blue-footed Boobies
and like most males, are just ignored. was a natural part of the Galapagos ecosystem. He also pointed out that people eat cows and no one is killing us all for that. Don't ya love people with underdeveloped ecological knowledge?
The Blue-footed boobies were in mating season. We got to see males trying to impress females. The male whistles, lifts up his feet, and flaps his wings, in hopes of being chosen by the female as a mate. The females did not seem impressed. We also saw Blue-footed boobies incubating eggs (one to two at a time) with the webs of their astonishingly blue feet. There were also nests with chicks and juvenile Blue-footed boobies. Some of the nests were even located directly in the trail, making staying on the trail impossible. It was amazing that the birds tolerate hundreds of tourists passing within inches of their nests each day.
The Nazca boobies (formerly the Masked boobies) were also nesting. We got to see many chicks and juveniles. The Blue-footed boobies nested near bushes. The Nazca boobies nest closer to the cliffs for at least two reason: the Nazca booby is a pelagic feeder (it feeds farther out to sea) and it is heavier than
the Blue-footed booby (can take off easier from the cliff).
Also nesting were the Waved albatrosses, the largest birds found in the archipelago. These birds are so heavy, they need to use a natural "airport" along the cliffs for their take-offs and landings. We got to see several doing just that.
After completing the loop trail, we had lunch aboard the boat and headed to another spot on the island, Bahia Gardner (or Gardner Bay). This was another chance for snorkeling. Half the group went snorkeling despite the cold weather and cold water (including Ryan). The other half of the group (including Ana) lounged on the beach. At 2pm, it was time to head back to San Cristobal.
Frederique, the Frenchman, was also amusing. Why did we call him the caricature Frenchman in the previous journal? First of all, his looks are comic. Huge aquiline nose, tiny almost none-existent chin. Second, his behavior. He expressed a huge interest in food. To his eyes, the one saving grace of doing land-based tours was that the food was probably better than we would have had on board. He also, perhaps most amusingly of all, ran around trying to get
Nazca Boobies
Nice, but not nearly as entertaining as the Blue-footed boobies. pictures of everything. It did not matter if he stepped far off the trail, as long as he got that perfect shot. At one point, on the boat, he even tugged heartily on the steering wheel (there were two on the boat; one upstairs where we were and one downstairs where the crew was) while trying to keep his balance in an attempt to photograph the dolphins. When we told him that he shouldn't do that because the wheel was still operational, he said, "It doesn't matter, there's someone else steering also."
That evening, at dinner, we got to see our tour manager flirting with the Canadians' oldest daughter (the petite blonde scuba diver). After dinner, we spoke with the manager in Quito again. We agreed on a partial refund. The trip was not what we had contracted and the travel agency acknowledged that. They were apologetic and made the land-based tours a terrific value for us. So, we resolved to get over our lousy start and enjoy the rest of the trip.
WILDLIFE SIGHTINGS: Frigatebirds (in flight), Brown pelicans (flying near San Cristobal), Marine iguanas, Blue-footed boobies (courtship and nesting behaviors), Yellow warbler, Galapagos hawk (feeding on
a juvenile marine iguana), Waved albatrosses (flying and nesting), Nazca boobies (nesting), Red-billed tropicbirds (in flight), Yellow-crowned Night-heron (perched on volcanic rock near the cliff), Hood Mockingbird, Darwin's finches (medium groungd finch, large cactus finch, and possibly the warbler finch), American oystercatcher (on the beach), Espanola Lava lizard, Sea lions, Dolphins (swimming in the bow wave of the boat), Sally Lightfoot crabs, Elliot's storm petrels (flying near the boat).
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