Galápagos Adventure (first day)
Jul. 12th, 2006 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pamelonianSeeing the movie, "Master and Commander" made me want to cry when I saw the Galápagos Islands scenes. That place will now always be a part of me. Then I remembered that I never put the Galápagos photos in my journal.
From Quito, I flew TAME airlines to the Galápagos airport. I think there is only one runway, but it is an airport nonetheless. For "baggage claim," they simply placed all the bags in a corral and let us in a dozen at a time to go get them. They actually checked my baggage claim ticket to make sure I got the right bag. From there it was a bus to the dock where we were to board the Angelito.
My first wildlife experience was a couple of sea lions lounging on the dock:
Our first Island was North Seymore. We dropped anchor and boarded the small motor boat to reach the island. Only small, guided groups are permitted on the islands. We saw many of the promised animals on North Seymore.
The Blue-Footed Booby
The baby Booby
A land iguana
A baby sea lion nursing.
A Frigatebird. This species likes to steal from other birds (hence the name). They steal fish after the Blue-Footed Boobies expertly dive for the catch and they even steal nesting material from other birds. This is the female.
This is the male.
The male inflates his neck sack to attract... Nature show hosts! (but seriously, folks, it was mating season and the females find that sexy. Apparently the gal pictured above was not impressed).
From here we set sail. We saw a lovely crater lake island that was home to pink flamingos (too small to see in the photo).
These islands are Daphne Major and Minor where the novel The Beak of the Finch takes place.
This was my first Galápagos sunset.
That night I watched the southern hemisphere stars from the roof of the ship. I spotted the Southern Cross.
From Quito, I flew TAME airlines to the Galápagos airport. I think there is only one runway, but it is an airport nonetheless. For "baggage claim," they simply placed all the bags in a corral and let us in a dozen at a time to go get them. They actually checked my baggage claim ticket to make sure I got the right bag. From there it was a bus to the dock where we were to board the Angelito.
My first wildlife experience was a couple of sea lions lounging on the dock:
Our first Island was North Seymore. We dropped anchor and boarded the small motor boat to reach the island. Only small, guided groups are permitted on the islands. We saw many of the promised animals on North Seymore.
The Blue-Footed Booby
The baby Booby
A land iguana
A baby sea lion nursing.
A Frigatebird. This species likes to steal from other birds (hence the name). They steal fish after the Blue-Footed Boobies expertly dive for the catch and they even steal nesting material from other birds. This is the female.
This is the male.
The male inflates his neck sack to attract... Nature show hosts! (but seriously, folks, it was mating season and the females find that sexy. Apparently the gal pictured above was not impressed).
From here we set sail. We saw a lovely crater lake island that was home to pink flamingos (too small to see in the photo).
These islands are Daphne Major and Minor where the novel The Beak of the Finch takes place.
This was my first Galápagos sunset.
That night I watched the southern hemisphere stars from the roof of the ship. I spotted the Southern Cross.
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Date: 2006-07-12 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-12 10:48 pm (UTC)