October 27, 2011

Day 07 - October 06, 2011

My bad; in my last post, I said that we went into a lava tunnel with steep stairs. The lava tunnel we went to in my last post wasn't so bad; they strung lights along the top, the ground was dry, etc...it was today that we went into the eternal darkness of a cave.

Today was on the lighter side of animal viewing. We visited Floreana for the day; in the morning, we went to the lava tunnel and post office bay. A barrel was placed here in the 18th century and passing ships would leave notes and packages for their loved ones. Whenever someone else passed by and saw a package destined through their own route, they would pick it up and drop it off. The barrel we saw wasn't the same barrel of course, but there was a barrel indeed. Inside the barrel were postcards by all the tourists that come by. We left a couple postcards in there, and everyone sifted through all of them to look for countries and areas of our group. There were a few going to Ontario, but we were surprised to not find any going to Toronto.

In the afternoon, we visited a beach on Floreana called the green sand beach. It's green because it's filled with olivine crystals, but the beach wasn't that green. Our tour guide had to sift through the sand to find a couple pieces of crystals. We got our first glimpse of a blue footed booby up close today too!  We also visited a lake within the Island that's usually filled with flamingos, but as I said in a previous post, there were zero to be found. We hit up another beach called Flour Beach because the sand is so soft, like flour.

Again, a not so filled day of animal sightings, but and interesting and educational day nonetheless!

Crazy lava tunnel

Post Office Bay



The "green" of the Green Sand

Blue footed booby and its baby!

No flamingos in sight.



October 26, 2011

Day 06 - October 05, 2011

Oohhhhh I love turtles! Remember that commercial?

Our first day on Galapagos Islands, it was a half day, so we had one snorkel session. The next two days had two snorkel sessions per day. Today was a NON-snorkel day -- I know, we couldn't believe it either! There wasn't any snorkeling scheduled for today, which was a nice break from the cool waters (around 18C).

We travelled to Santz Cruz, the most populated island within the archipelago. Peurto Ayora was the name of the town we visited later on. We visited the Charles Darwin Research Station in the morning to see and learn about giant tortoises and Darwin's studies. They raise the tortoises in these areas when they are babies until they are a certain length and their shells are hard enough withstand any possible attacks. These guys aren't the most quickest ones around, but they're really interesting to look at. They can weigh close to a tonne and live well over 100 years. We had time before lunch to go into town where there were tons of souvenir shops and convenient stores (we bought some drinks and snacks, like chips).

In the afternoon, we visited the highlands where the giant tortoises roam around in the wild. It was a sight to see all these giant tortoises just walking around, and with giant tortoises come giant poop, so we had to be careful where we stepped. We walked through a lava tunnel afterwards, which started off with steep "stairs" (just wood planks) going downwards, then ended with just straight rocks and dirt. There were no lights in there, it was cold, and parts had fresh water there too, giving the whole experience an eerie feeling. Luckily we had our head lamps on and everyone stayed together. Quite the adventure compared to the fast paced tortoises we saw earlier!


Lonesome George, the last known tortoise of its species. He's estimated to be around 110 years old.






Land Iguana.

A Finch...not sure what kind.

A volunteer worker at the tortoise farm chopping up their lunch.

A small cactus growing between rocks.

Another unknown finch.

Lobsters for sale at the fish market. We were originally quoted 3/$20 which was the morning time. A few of us from the group went back later that day because we wanted to grab some for the entire group. We ended up getting 12 lobsters (1-2 lbs each) for $50!

Same fish market, where workers were cutting up fresh fish, and pelicans seeing if they were lucky enough to grab a snack.

A tortoise in the highlands.



Barn owl.

October 25, 2011

Day 05 - October 04, 2011

In the morning, we visited Peurto Egas where we saw a gang of marine iguanas, sea lions, and a variety of birds. The iguanas hang out together, and often on top of each other, so the parasites on their own body get transferred to their buddies, which makes a great breakfast, lunch, or dinner for them...yum! The sea lions here were also a little lighter in colour because of the dry land. We saw many birds this morning too, all ranging in different sizes and colours; no wonder Mr. Darwin had such a good time at these Islands.

Rabida was the afternoon's destination. The red sand beach is distinctive here because of the iron ore from the surrounding rocks. I remember this area the most because of the snorkeling. Devika decided not to snorkel today, so I went out with the group. The water was murky and it was easy to swim going out along the rocks. Since it was murky and therefore not much to see, I decided not to go ahead any further with the group and started swimming back. The current was particularly strong in this part, but strange as well; if I just stayed still and floated, I wouldn't move, but when I started kicking and swimming, I would hardly move! It took twice as long to swim back and I was exhausted at the end. I saw some sea turtles on the way back though!


The one of many gangs of Marine Iguanas.

Baby sea lion.



Empty sally lightfoot crab shell; they grow out of their shells every so often. I wanted to eat them so bad!


Yellow Warbler.

Galapagos Mocking Bird.

Galapagos Lava Heron.

Red Sand Beach.


Lost Sea Lion pup.

Dried up Star Fish on the beach.

October 24, 2011

Day 04 - October 03, 2011

Today was our first official full day in the Galapagos. Our typical day started at 700am with breakfast, then touching down on land to explore a different island/part of the island for a couple of hours. After the excursion, we would get back on the boat and get ready to snorkel for an hour. Lunch would follow with some time to relax on the boat, then we would repeat the morning: land excursion, snorkel, back on the boat to relax, then dinner. Since each day started so early, everyone was pretty tired in the evening. By 900pm, everyone was in their cabin and ready for bed, including us!

In the morning half, we visited Chinese Hat, named due to the shape of the island. Here, we saw sea lions (they were practically everywhere we went though), sally lightfoot crabs (saw these everywhere as well), pelicans (same), and land iguanas...which, we saw everywhere as well. Since today was the first day, seeing all these guys was new to us, but we never got tired of seeing them all week!

We visited Bartolomé Island in the afternoon. We hiked to the summit of the island which has a great panoramic view of the Island itself and the surrounding Islands. From up top, we saw the Pinnacle rock, which is a softer rock and was simply shaped that way from the wind over the years. The snorkeling in the afternoon was amazing, with tons of fish, and a close encounter with a white tipped shark...luckily it seemed it already had lunch :)

Morning commute to Chinese Hat.

Chinese Hat.

A Brown Pelican looking for lunch.

A baby sea lion working on its tan.

The remains of a sea lion, unfortunately.

Marine Iguana.


Sally Lightfoot Crab.


View from the top of Bartolomé Island, Pinnacle Rock in the middle.

Our shadows while walking back down.


Got the chance to see the Galapagos Penguins! Only 800 exist and are rare to see!

Pinnacle Rock from another view.