If the guests from week 1 of this voyage would have been here for week 2, they would not have believed it was the same area. We had only one brief rain shower the entire week. The weather was absolutely beautiful, the air cool, the water warm. What more could you ask for?
Our mobile home when traveling through the islands is the National Geographic Endeavour. She has spent extensive time around both poles and came to Galapagos ~2 years ago to settle here. Every evening the crew pulls the zodiacs up on board so that we can travel to the next destination. These images are from our first evening, at Leon Dormido, where we ended week 1's trip.
The land is beautiful here. The dark lava and tidal lagoons. Sometimes we see flamingos, marine iguanas, and various other shorebirds in and around this lagoon, but as you can see, it is stunning on it's own too.
The large prickly pear cacti were in full bloom on various islands. The yellow and sometimes orange blooms were a stark contrast to the green vegetation during the rainy season. Some of these plants are 20 feet tall or taller.
Gardner Bay has a beautiful white sandy beach and Caribbean like water. The sea lions there are incredible. Our expedition leader counted 362 when we were visiting the beach. There is nothing like being so close to so many of these animals.
The accessibility to the animals is unique to Galapagos. It's not uncommon that you have to wait for a blue-footed booby, land iguana, or sea lion to move out of the trail before moving along. It is the mocking birds and juvenile sea lions that are most curious and often come right up to you to investigate.
You must always keep your eyes peeled for things out of the ordinary. You never know when a marine iguana is going to swim by you to feed on algae beneath you or when a pod of dolphin will be riding the bow of the ship.
Sometimes you know that something is going to happen. When juvenile birds are squawking excitedly, it may mean that its mother is not far away with food.
Other times, you come across things already in progress, such as a Sally lightfoot crab eating another, as a third watches. We don't know if the 'victim' here was still alive or not, but watched the dominant one take apart its legs before we moved on.
The differences between different islands is always striking to one who visits Galapagos. The last day of this trip, we visited Genovesa. It was my first time there but one that I had heard many things about in the past, so it was a highlight of the trip as a whole. We saw nesting Nazca boobies and two new species (for me), the elusive short-eared owl and the red footed booby.
These owls can be very difficult to spot because they blend in with the reddish brown lava and don't typically come close. We were able to see two close up, which was a real treat. (You can always tell when it is really something special when even the naturalists, who are out there week after week are excited.) I love the vibrant yellow of their eyes.
We also saw numerous red footed boobies and their chicks nesting along a beach.
As I sit at home now, I'm reminded of how incredibly fortunate I've been to get to know this magical place. There is a part of it that feels like a second home and one that I hope to continue to get to know better in the coming years. If you have not been, you really should go. If you have, you know exactly what I am talking about.
