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Giant Land Tortoise
Giant tortoises can weight up to 400 pounds and live over 100 years The first leg of our trip took us to Quito, Ecuador. From one of the highest vantage points of the city, we could see the homes of the city expand out for miles. No high rises in this city. After touring the city and seeing the Cathedral, San Francisco Plaza Church, we joined our group and enjoyed a delightful hot chocolate in the main square while listing to a native flute player. Although our trip to Quito was only a day, we met delightful people and enjoyed the first day. The next morning we started our trip to the Galapagos Islands by flying from Quito to the Island of Baltra where we boarded a water taxi to take us to the Island of Santa Cruz. As we traveled to our hotel, the highly rated Finch Bay Eco Hotel, named after the the famous Darwin Finches, we had our first sighting of the Giant Land Tortoises crossing the road at a very leisurely pace. We went on to explore lava tunnels created millions of years ago, as well as a visit to the Giant Tortoises Reserve.
The next day we cruised to the island of Santa Fe where we saw the
Land iguanas
Live under opuntia cactus endemic land iguanas among the large opunita cactus forest. These cactus plants provide the food source and home for the land iguanas. They each select a large cactus plant, and make that their home. If you come up to them and they are shaking their heads in quick jerky, movements, this is their way of giving a nod that this is their cactus and not yours! Sea lions frolicked along the rocky shores. They play and play with each other, calling and barking to each other. From the babies to the older adults, their enthusiasm was infectious and truly a sight to enjoy.
Our yacht took us to North Seymore Island the next day. On this island we saw more sea lions along with hundreds of large Frigate Birds nesting in the low bushes of the terrain. We could get within a couple of feet from them to observe their nests and see the white fluffy babies being tended and protected by the male and female. The male frigate birds present a large red inflated pouch under their bill to woo the female. The female can be identified by the white feathers under her bill and neck. These birds
Frigate Birds
Male courting female have a wing span of several feet...so to see them up close and personal is rather daunting and a little scary, however they have no fear of humans and just go about their ways. This is the same for the Blue-footed boobies of the Galapagos. These large birds with their indicative blue feet are extremely entertaining to watch. The bluer the feet, the more interesting the males are to the females. As they do their mating dance, they imitate each other and put on a very entertaining show.
The next day our yacht took us on a wondrous trip to the Island of Bartoleme. This is one of the more formidable islands, with very prominent lava formations through the mountain sides. The only vegetation we saw were three types of cactus growing on the mountain. We hiked to the top of the island and from this vantage point could see the entire area, which would take your breath away. Below we could see the shadow of a ten to twelve foot black manta ray that was swimming close to shore where the eating was good. We could see the Pinnacle Rock, one of the most photographed icons of the
Blue-footed Boobies
Dance mirrors other actions Galapagos. But the most enjoyable sight of the trip was when we were back on the dingy, motoring along the coast line when we came upon the Galapagos penguins. Only about twelve inches high, and only twelve nesting pair on the island, it was a great treat to see these delightful birds. They sat on a rock and preened and sunned themselves for a long period of time. This was a true highlight of the trip, since they are not sighted on a regular basis.
Our cruise to and from Bartoleme was also a delight with white finned dolphins running along side the boat for great distances as well as sighting large sea turtles and more Frigate birds. Sharks were observed by those who went snorkeling along with dozens of beautiful fish and penguins.
We saw so many wonderful sights while cruising the islands, that this blog does not do it justice. We were in awe of our surroundings for four days and the entire group felt this was one if not the best trip ever taken. Pictures and text will help you understand the wonder of these islands, but will not begin to be the same as
Sea Lions
Frolicking along the shores being there and taking in the wonder of these exotic and mysterious volcano eruptions of the Pacific, islands born of fire.
A trip to the Galapagos is a trip of a life time and I hope can be on your itinerary as well. We used Monogram travel for this trip and they did a wonderful job of making sure the trip was well planned and executed to the T. Every hotel and tour was a delight as well as the staff and tour guides.
Hasta Luego.....Sue
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