(For Juli--a reworked post from 2012.)
If
you love animals as much as I do, put a trip to the Galapagos Islands on your
bucket list! We've traveled to a lot of
places & had some wonderful vacations, but this was the absolute best.
The
Galapagos Islands are off the coast of Ecuador.
We took a plane from California to Florida, then another plane from
Florida to Ecuador. From there we were
shuttled to the islands in a small boat, disembarked & boarded our cruise
ship. It took a long time to get there,
but it was well worth it. These islands
are where Charles Darwin studied the animals & developed his theory on the
evolution of man. Whether or not you
subscribe to his theory, these islands are a MUST SEE!
It
is illegal to kill, bother or even touch the animals so they have never developed a
fear of man. When our shuttle boat
brought us to the pier, there were seals sprawled out on the steps. They’d occasionally look up at you, but they
lay there like giant blobs. You had to
carefully step over them. After all,
it’s their island, not yours—you’re just a visitor. When you take this trip I recommend that you
use a small cruise ship. We used
Lindblad Lines, which were great. There
were about 60 passengers. A small ship
like ours could go places that the larger ones couldn’t get into. We “parked”, at one time, in the caldera of
an extinct volcano. (A caldera is the depression that’s formed when a volcano
collapses into itself. Nature then fills it with water.) I loved when we crossed the equator. They told us that we could tell when we were
crossing because we would feel a small bump.
I think some people actually thought they felt that bump.
We
traveled to each of the islands by a zodiac; a small power boat that held about
15 people. Our guides (college students
who were studying the islands) took us on walking tours. We saw marine iguanas, Galapagos penguins
(only 16-18” tall), beautiful red & yellow “Sally Lightfoot” crabs (named
that because people thought their color
& movements looked like a cabaret dancer), seals (including lots of
babies), giant tortoises (who can weigh 500 pounds & live over 150 years)
& MANY other animals, some of which are found nowhere else on earth. You had to step over or around these animals,
too. There were birds everywhere—some of
them quite odd. We saw red footed
boobies & blue footed boobies. We
saw frigate birds puffing up their red neck sac to attract a mate. You’ve heard the term, “a feast for the
senses”—THIS WAS IT!!
On
one island, my husband decided he didn’t feel like walking. Instead, he said he would just sit on a large
rock on the beach, wait for us & enjoy the beautiful sunshine. He was just about to sit when the rock
moved! The “rock” was a large seal that
turned his head to see who was sitting on him, not that the seal really cared!
We
went snorkeling in wonderfully clear waters (there were also beautiful fish)
& one woman had a penguin come right up to her, face to face, & touch
(kiss?) her mask with his beak! She told
us a seal had a “kissed” her at the pier, too.
My
husband originally wasn’t excited about going—he went because he knew I had
always wanted to go. He now agrees—THIS
WAS OUR BEST TRIP EVER!!
This is the mating dance of the blue footed booby.
The male (who is smaller) also offers the female a stick.
If she accepts it, they are married:
Unfortunately I can't find the pictures I took
with the exception of me & Bud on the zodiac below.
The rest of the photos I found online.
There are hundreds of sea lions:
Who sleep wherever they want:
With no fear of man:
The tortoises are huge:
But the penguins are tiny:
There are "Sally Lightfoot" crabs:
Marine iguanas:
Beautiful fish:
And hammerhead sharks:
This frigate bird really wants a mate:
A red footed booby:
But the blue footed booby is my favorite
of all the animals & birds we saw:
That's the end of today's nature tour.
How about some cartoons:
My husband has taken me around the world, but I always found my way home!----fishducky
