Penguins!

Swimming with penguins is always one of the highlights of traveling down here. We had a fantastic opportunity to snorkel with them on the first week of my trip. Usually they will approach you very briefly and be off again. This time however, we had two that stayed with us for about half an hour. The photo staff and two guests stayed in the water for three hours that day, photographing the birds. As you can see in the last photo, taken of me by a guest, they were coming very close to us. It will definitely be a day in the water I'll not forget!

Fernandina and Santa Cruz

It’s been another great trip to the Galapagos Islands, and as with the ones in the past, it is going by all too quickly. One would think that having visited this place three years in a row at the exact same time, it would all start to look the same. While it is a challenge to photograph a little differently now that I have walked these trails numerous times, the animals, tides and seasons continue to remind me that our world is not one that follows a rulebook. This year the islands are more lush than in previous years. There are yellow and white flowers dotting the landscape. And thankfully the water is warmer than it has been in the past – a very comfortable 78 degrees. Since May is the transition period between the warm wet season and the cool dry season, we never know what side of the change we will be here for. This year the changes are taking place as we are here, so the air is cooler and the water warmer, making the experience much more pleasant on some of the more arid islands.

We started the day on Tuesday watching the sunrise over Fernandina Island and the most recent eruption in the area. It’s been a few weeks since the eruption occurred so we could not see any red glow but the black lava was still smoking.

Later in the day, on the opposite side of the island a sea lion was feasting on Sally lightfoot crabs in a tide pool. This was a young sea lion who must have not known that this behavior is very atypical for his species. It was quite a spectacle to watch as he went after numerous crabs and toss them into the air as he devoured them.




Yesterday was our day on land. We visited Santa Cruz Island and the town of Puerto Ayora. This is where the Charles Darwin Research Station is located. Fortunately we’re able to travel to the highlands to see the giant tortoises in the wild as well. Three of us were able to spend some time with one large male away from the group that was eating passionfruit. A friend’s camera lens was at one point covered in the fruit juice from the splatter as the tortoise bit into the firmer fruits.



There’s a lot of chaos here, with birds chattering and the oohs and ahhs of people seeing these places for the first time. My favorite images are those that are able to find the still quiet moments in all the activity, so I’ll leave you with a few of those…..

Washington DC

I have been very fortunate to become a part of a new program through National Geographic Expeditions. These three day photo workshops are held in various cities in the US (this year being Washington DC and San Francisco). Since the majority of my travels have been outside the country, this is a great opportunity for me to see more of my homeland. Last week was the first of these programs, in DC.

(Click on the images to see them bigger.)


The tulips were in bloom all over the city - beautiful.





While I was at the Washington Monument, the sound of helicopters filled the air. Navy One coming to take Obama to Mexico City. It was interesting to watch the three helicopters do their shell game dance as they approached the White House and then one land as the other two circled the city. I grew impatient waiting for Obama to come out and fly away so missed his departure.




The Lincoln Memorial



Vietnam Memorial


The Treasury



Waiting for the train....



And finally the very impressive Natural Science museum. I could have spent days in there. That's a right whale in the top image and the jaw of a megalodon in the bottom.

Playtime!

Wednesday was our day on land. We spent the afternoon with wild giant tortoises. Of course this was a great time, similar to last week, where I was able to have some one-on-one time with these giants.

I left a little early, thinking I could get some work done before everyone returned to the ship. However, when I got back into town (Puerto Ayora), there was a Christmas pageant going on. I made several new friends, which was the highlight of my day. Obviously these children were not a part of the pageant. There's nothing like photographing kids in other countries where they are SOOO excited to be in pictures, to see them on the back of your camera, and in these kids case, take some pictures themselves. I was having too much fun with these guys to leave the playground. So imagine this scene with the voices of dozens of kids wearing angel and elf costumes singing Christmas carols. Too much fun!

Isabela Underwater

There are many things to love about the different islands here, but without a doubt, Isabela and Fernandina are my favorites on our itinerary. They are younger, mountainous with recent lava flows, and have more active marine life because of the cooler, nutrient rich waters. Here are two images from that day, one of a Pacific green sea turtle (above) and the other of a flightless cormorant (below), a bird that only exists in the Galapagos Islands.

Floreana & Champion Islands

Greater flamingo on Floreana Island


School of steel pompano off Champion Island (big thank you to Mom and Dad for the underwater camera....I'm loving it!)

Sea Lions at Gardner Bay

A baby waits for it's mother to return from fishing

Espanola Island

A few photos from our outing this morning, on Espanola Island, one of the oldest islands in the archipelago.....

where you can find blue-footed boobies guarding their precious eggs,

and the marine iguanas are more colorful than on any of the other islands.

It was a bonus to see some feeding in a tide pool from above.

Finally, a photo from a friend, one of the naturalists, Juan Carlos who took this of me on our walk Friday evening on Santiago Island.

December in Galapagos - Week 1

It’s been a great week here in the Galapagos! Since this is not the season that I’m usually here, there were some differences that I expected, but the serendipitous character of the natural world was in full swing this week. Seasonal differences were largely evident in the different stages of life present. The sea lion pups are much younger, some still with umbilical cords….but much less prevalent and playful in the water. Juvenile albatross were scattered about where in May the adults are displaying their courtship behavior. On this trip, we saw only two adults, but many of the young, that look much like adult albatross wearing a dark brown afro wig (they’re losing their down at this time, their heads being the last place that it is shed). This is also sea turtle breeding season. Just this morning we watched as a male mounted a female less than 30 feet away from us as another male tried to disrupt the mating process by biting the initial male’s tail. Meanwhile, the co-joined couple rolls from side to side as their balance shifted on the surface of the water. We also saw several young flamingos, fluffy and gray. It’s hard to verbalize the magic of this place, and the up close and personal experience you can have with the wildlife here is unlike anywhere else.

(The internet connection here is slow, so the images small, but I wanted to share a few with you regardless.)

Two personal highlights to share, though as you can imagine there are many great stories to tell. My favorite day in this itinerary overall is always the day we visit the western islands of Fernandina and Isabela. The landscape is more mountainous and lush, with more recent lava flows of dark black cutting through the green vegetation. The water in this area is much deeper and colder than in other part of the archipelago, so it is typically our best chance to see whales. On one previous trip, we saw a sperm whale in the distance, but there have not been sightings in the last year and a half on this ship in the area. By noon on Tuesday, four species of marine mammals had been spotted, and though I didn’t get to see them all, it was a very exciting morning. Someone spotted the blow of a sperm whale so the captain diverted our path toward the animal. As we neared, we began to see more. All in all at least a dozen where in the pod. There were several groups of females with calves (see image below) and one male and female traveling together. Initially they were a moderate distance away from us, and no sooner had the guide next to me mentioned that this was the largest group he’d seen here, but too bad they weren’t closer to us, that two of them appeared right under where we were standing at the bow of the ship. My telephoto lens could not contain them, they were so close to us. It was quite a rush!

Our next encounter, within a half hour or so of seeing the whales, was a pod of 100’s of common dolphin and frigatebirds feeding on yellowfin tuna. The dolphin were bounding out of the water, sometimes coming higher than the birds above them. I can say with confidence that it was tuna that they were feeding on, because once we looked at the images taken during that time there were numerous tuna in the air as well. It was definitely a feeding frenzy. The other species that were spotted that day were the bottlenose dolphin and orca. Duty called and I had to choose my presentation over viewing them. This morning I missed another chance to see orcas. Four were spotted off the coast of the island we were visiting. Part of our group was able to hop in a zodiac and get very close to the four whales. At one point the orcas swam underneath the small boat. Of course, to make the scene even more spectacular there was a 10-ft manta ray very nearby as well. I had to settle with hearing the stories and seeing the photos for that one, and hope that next week I’m in the right place at the right time.

My favorite part of the week had to be our day with the wild tortoises. We visited a different location than we do in May, because the toirtoses are in a different part of their migration pattern. The tortoises were resting and feeding in an open hilly area that was vibrant green grass with large trees spread about. In May we may see 7-10 tortoises. On Wednesday, we saw at least 30-50! We were able to spend extended periods with one or walk around and look at several. At one point, I laid down in the grass next to one of these giant animals and stayed for 15 or so minutes. It never once retracted into it’s shell and let me get very close, within 2 feet of it. It was a very special moment, where we studied each other and silently communicated. I could have stayed there all day. Here's a photo of me with the tortoise and one of the resulting images.





Tomorrow the first group leaves, and an hour and a half later, we receive 70 new guests and begin our journey again. There will be new names to learn, many of the expected animals to see, and surprises to look for. It amazes me daily that I am getting paid to share my passion with people eager to learn. The fact that I am able to do so occasionally in a beautiful place as this absolutely blows my mind.

A Great Ending

As usual, it was difficult to leave the islands, after having connected to the land and the life there, and leaving new friends on the ship. Many of them will be there when I return in December but the landscape will be vastly different, since that will be during the rainy season.

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To start, here are some of the photos I tried to post last time that didn't go through from Isabela and Fernandina Isalnds.

Galapagos penguin on Isabela Island

Sally Lightfoot Crab on Fernandina Island

On our trip to Santa Cruz Island, our only full land day, we found several tortoises in the wild. I've been to this place three times before and have always seen one, two, or three, but on this day, the group was smaller than normal and we went further into the jungle and found around seven of them.

Wild Galapagos land tortoise

We had a sunrise outing on Thursday at Cerro Dragon (another part of Santa Cruz) and walked up on a beautiful setting. There's a lagoon just off the beach there where several marine iguanas where resting in the water. The naturalists were saying this was not a normal behavior but one to avoid the feral cats that patrol the area. We saw one cat (different ones) each week we were on that trail. It's an island that is inhabited by people so it's nearly, if not completely, impossible to gain control of the cats and dogs, although they have recently implemented programs to attempt to control the population. Anyway, several minutes after we walked up, the iguanas started moving. As you can see the water was very still and the reflections were beautiful.

Marine iguanas reflected in lagoon

On the move...

Our last day included trips to Bartolome and Santiago Islands, followed by a deviation in our route back to Baltra where the airport is. As you may have heard, there was a volcanic eruption on Thursday on Fernandina. (See this article for more info: Galapagos eruption) Yep, we missed seeing it by only two days! Lindblad's other ship that travels the Galapagos was there though and got some great photos. We were over 100 miles away, but got as close as we could while not missing our plane the next day. We were able to see the red glow of the lava reflected on the clouds in the distance. It's not the dramatic photo, but the closest I've been to an eruption, so pretty cool nonetheless!

Sunset on Santiago Island, near Sombrero Chino. The landscape here is dominated by the candelabra cactus.

My last evening in the Galapagos, with the eruption of Cerro Azul, on Isabela Island, in the background

Second Round

A new week with the same itinerary and one would expect much of the same experience…and be proven wrong. Monday was our day on Floreana Island, where last week, we had an epic experience with flamingos. Several came very close to us and the water was perfectly still. Each flamingo was mirrored on the surface below it. This week, a slight breeze was blowing across the lagoon, producing gentle ripples at the feet of the flamingos. We waited for some of them to walk out from behind the mangroves for a better view. Several more joined the group. We had two different vantage points that were very close to these beautiful animals. Then, as we were about to walk to the beach across the island, something stirred all of the flamingos at once and they started moving, all in the same direction. It was like watching a well-choreographed marching band.

Yesterday we went to the youngest islands in the archipelago, Isabela and Fernandina. Yes you’ve heard me say it before, but this truly is my favorite region of the Galapagos. They are more mountainous and lush, with black lava flows extending down into the ocean. The water is colder here, so algae growth is higher, leading to more sea turtles and the largest marine iguanas in the Galapagos. This is where we saw the Mola mola last week. I didn’t get to see one yesterday, but one lucky comrade saw two while snorkeling. No complaints about my time either though…my snorkel included three penguins and a flightless cormorant diving through schools of fish. You'll just have to imagine this part, as the internet decided mid-way to stop posting photos.

Two more full days here and we're on our way back. It's amazing how quickly time goes.

PHOTOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, it took me a few days to figure out that all I needed to do was try one of the hard wired computers on board to upload photos. Here are some of the highlights of the week. It's hard to believe that the first 1/2 of this trip ends tomorrow. We will have a 2 hour "break" between this group leaving and the next group coming on board. Of course, during that time, we'll review the week and discuss what to do differently next week. This part of the trip was overall wonderful. We haven't had as much sun as we photographers would have liked during the first and last hours of the day, but can't complain about the clouds keeping us cooler through the middle of each day. Next week, I'm hoping for the sun! More to come....

Blue-footed boobies on North Seymour Island

Male blue-footed boobie doing part of his mating dance to attract the ladies.

Sea lions on the beach at Gardner Bay (Espanola Island)

Sea lion off of Espanola Island

Flamingo and Black-necked stilt on Floreana Island

Marine Iguanas on Isabela Island. The Polaris (our home base) is in the background.

Mola mola off Fernandina Island

Green sea turtle off of Fernandina Island

Galapagos tortoises feeding at the Charles Darwin Research Center. (No, the woman is not touching one of them, just pointing.)