Galapagos Islands February 2010

We departed the US on February 26th going to Quito, Ecuador and stayed there two nights with tours before heading on a chartered flight with Celebrity Expedition to the Galapagos Islands.  The Celebrity Expedition holds about 92 passengers and the Galapagos islands allows only a max of 18 people with a guide to visit most of the islands.  All landings were by zodiac rafts and we would visit two locations per day.  We were fortunate enough to see everything that is advertised and was astonished sometimes on how unafraid these animals are of humans.  We were suppose to stay one night in Quito on our way back but Delta changed the times of our flights from 9 AM to 12:30 AM so we only had time for a nap. 

The Galapagos Islands are a must destination for those with time and means if you truly enjoy nature and animals in their natural surroundings.

And now for the pictures with some explanations.  The first is from our tour of Quito and going where the North and South Hemispher meet.

This church was quite impressive and even more at night when we passed by later that evening.

Of course I had to kiss June while our toes touched the north and south hemispheres at the equator.  Also enjoy the view from the top of the building behind us.

The line is the equator.  We also visited a small indoor courtyard that families could enjoy that lived around it.

Now we finally head to the Galapagos Islands.  Here is a map of the islands that we visited and the route we covered over the 7 days. 




The plane ride took us into Baltra where there isn't much more than just the airport.  We were bussed to the dock and waited for the tenders to arrive.  The ship was a little behind because the previous cruise was interupted by the tsunami from the earthquake in Chile the previous week.  Once on board we had a little time to unpack before heading to our first stop that afternoon.

Yes, there is such a thing as a blue footed Boobie.

Then there were many land iguanas around that got quite large.

Here is a male frigate bird.  He inflates the red pouch when he is trying to find a mate.  Guess he got exhausted and is taking a break.

This is our ship, the Celebrity Xpedition.  I think we need to get there soon for dinner.

This is a large rock in the middle of the ocean.  The little black spots near the left top are all the birds that come here to nest.  We took a zodiac around it in the early morning and saw the several different types of sea birds.

I took this picture to show how some of the sea birds cool themselves in the wind by placing there wings so.

This is the only town we stopped in to see the Galapagos National Park

I liked this one because the land iguana and sea lion are both enjoying the sun.

Here you can see the head of a baby sea bird with it's mother keeping it warm.

Not the best shot but we were higher on the cliff away from the water but it is a leatherback turtle.

A bird with it's chick.  There was alot of nesting going on when we went.

These are a Darwin Finches.  He took several from the islands to come up with his theory of evalution. These are from two different islands and you should be able to see the difference in their beaks.  The top one is a little longer while the bottom is smaller.

Here is just one of over a hundred dolphins that we intercepted while returning to the ship.  On jumped right next to the zodiac and got a couple completely soaked.  It's hard to get good pictures with an instamatic.

This was a real treat.  We made our landing early in the morning and the sky was overcast so it was cool.  We walked up over a dune and here we saw a leatherback turtle putting the finishing touches on burrying her eggs.  This usually doesn't occur this late in the morning since the heat and sun could dehydrate the turtle as well as other birds discovering the eggs.  Enjoy the following sequence of her making her way to the ocean.  she was so exhausted she would move three times and then had to rest so it took about 30 minutes for her to reach the ocean.

So close but so worn out over her journey.  Yet she makes it and swims away.  This was truly a great opportunity to see what usually happens in the night.

They even have pink flamingos running around sometimes.

This guy showed up sometime after we left in the zodiacs for sight seeing and I guess he thought the spare zodiac was the ideal place to sun himself.

They call this a chocolate chip star fish.

This was just plain pretty being blue and all.  We didn't dive, just snorkel.

Got to see a stingray also.

I liked this one because you see the colorful crabs that were abundant everywhere, the Blue Footed Boobie and the Sea Lions all in one shot sharing the shore.

Here's just a shot of some of the landscape as it can change from one island to another.

These Sea Lions sure don't have a problem making themselves at home on the ship.

Another type of landscape from a different island.

And here you see the second smallest penquin in the world.  The current that hits the Galapagos Islands from the west is cold and that's why they can survive here at the equator.

These two tortoises were on one island and later you'll see others in the wild in the hills of an island.  The tortoises only come down when it's time to mate and each island has a different type of tortoise which those with knowledge can tell which island they evolved.

As you can see, the sea iguanas really don't pay much attention to us humans and they aren't all that lovely to look at up close.  We had to find a route through them in order to discover other things on the island like the wingless Cormorant shown below.  Notice the wings are very poorly developed but they nest on the rocks and dive for their food.

 This is just a brown pelican that flies in and can be found on the western coast of the Americas.

Here is a baby sea lion pup which looks alot like a fur seal pup but the fur seal pup has a little furrier hair.

This is a fur seal pup.

This is a Galapagos brown hawk who has found it's next meal and is waiting for everyone to leave.

These are oyster catchers that fly into and out of the Galapagos Islands.

After this island we were able to do some snorkeling on the coast.  We found some sharks so I of course had to dive down in my gear with my camera to get a closer look at them.  These are white tip sharks.

We then went on another hike on yet another island and the landscape was different yet another time.

From here we went to the main island and went to the Galapagos National Park where they have several older tortoises from the diffent islands.  These as you can see are very large.  The whalers and pirates used to take the tortoises from the islands and store them in the ship for fresh meat.  That is why there are not nearly as many throughout the islands as there once was and some have become the last of their kind like Lonesome George.

We got to go through another little seaport town where the fisherman were preparing their catch and the sea lions were more than ready to help with the scraps.

After this our last stop was a hike up into the hills to see another type of tortoise.  These are the last two pictures of our journey. 

From here we flew back to Quito and stayed a short time in our hotel room before being taken to the airport for our redeye back to the states.  We both very much enjoyed this trip.