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| Blue Boobie chick, covered with burrs from the bushes nearby |
We arrived in the Galapagos Sunday for our second visit,
this time in winter, and with a group.
Our last visit was in June 2015, so a different season entirely. Birds were mating; babies were hatching; the
weather was hot and the water, for snorkeling, warm.
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| blue footed boobies in habit Floreana |
In late September, the weather is cooler, much nicer for our
hikes on the islands, but the water is 10 degrees colder, making snorkeling a
bit shivery. Thank goodness our boat
(the same one as last time, the 16 passenger Majestic) has long wetsuits to
loan us for this season.
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| giant marine turtle in the waves at Floreana |
At this time of year, there are hundreds of marine turtles
swimming in the water close to shore or feeding on the rocks just off the rocky
promontories of the islands. We have
seen more turtles in 2 days, by far, than we saw in our 2 weeks in the
Galapagos before. One advantage of this
time of year.
While the bird life is less abundant on the islands, there
are still nesting pairs and babies. Yesterday morning, on Espaniola Island, we watched a Galapagos Hawk snag a baby Nasca
boobie, all fluffy white, kill it and feed it to its own young. We saw albatrosses, which mate for life,
nuzzling each other on the sand along with other albatrosses sitting on nests
on the ground. While one incubates the
egg (they lay only 1), the other is out at sea searching for food. If one of the pair dies before the egg
hatches, the sitting mate will abandon the egg in order to feed him or herself
and survive. We saw one abandoned egg,
about the size of fist.
Our snorkel today was particularly chilly, but really fun
because of 3 sea lions who wanted to play with us near a high cliff. They swam under and by us, bumping us in
hopes we would chase them. One grabbed
our Zodiac with her flipper and kept trying to push it away from us. They leaped out of the water showing us their
skills and skimmed alongside us. Sea lions are about the same size as seals, but they have external ears, which seals do no have.
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| sea lion heading to the ocean |
Our first day here, we spent the day at Floreana Island, snorkeling
twice in the cold water. The reward was
watching huge marine turtles swim just below us along with beautifully colored
fish in large schools. Several people
saw a large shark that quickly swam off when he saw them approaching.
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| young sea lion playing in the waves |
Floreana is a nesting area for the marine turtles, as are
most of the beaches on these islands. We
could see the large holes the females had dug before depositing 80 to 100
eggs. In 2 months, the eggs hatch and
the babies scramble out of the sand nest, heading for the water. They try to go at night, but even a dark cloud
blocking the sun can make them think it’s time to make a break. This attracts hundreds of birds eager to
feast on these tiny creatures.
Ultimately, only about 5% of them survive their frantic rush to the sea
and the months afterward until they gain enough size to be safe.
Marine turtles can live up to 150 years. I think at least some of the ones we saw
today on Espaniola were awaiting nightfall to climb up the dunes and lay their
eggs. Others were enjoying the swim in
shallow water where they could feed on the algae that covers the rocks.
Today, we're in Puerto Ayora, the main town on Santa Cruz Island, so I have internet access, but the next post will probably be in about 5 days, when we are once again back in range.
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| our boat, the 16 passenger Majestic |
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