At every visitor site, our guide would tell us beforehand what we were likely to see. However, every time the guide said, 'maybe you can see (animal)', that really meant 'you definitely won't see (animal)'. In this way, he stirred up hopes to see golden rays and sting rays in the morning, and Galapagos hawks in the afternoon, none of which was fulfilled.
Nevertheless, we saw a fine selection of wildlife again. Sea turtles and white-tip reef sharks were roaming in the waters of black turtle cove.
On the mangroves at the shores, some pelicans were nesting...
... while others just stood in the water enjoying the sun:
A little further, we saw this majestic blue heron who didn't seem to be disturbed by the dinghy passing right in front of him.
An early lunch and three hours of travel later, we arrived at the Chinese hat, an islet with the shape of, well, a Chinese hat. We went snorkeling first, and to my delight there were penguins swimming with us!
Towards the end of the snorkeling, I saw this brown bird sitting on the rocky shore:
Right next to him, two penguins were basking in the sun:
After a quick shower, we went to explore the Chinese hat on foot. There were several sea lions lying in the sand on the beach we landed at, and when another sea lion arrived, he was greeted like this:
Apparently the greeting wasn't too friendly, however, because the newcomer was chased away shortly after ;-)
I also learned something about the Sally lightfoot crabs that scurry about every beach and rocky shore of the Galapagos.
The guide explained that the crabs shed their shells every one to two years to be able to grow further. Before they do that, they dissolve the calcium contained in their old shell and integrate it into their blood. Then they squeeze out of their old shells - which are very light at this point - and construct a new one around themselves within one week, using the stored calcium .
I also saw an American oystercatcher - although I'm not sure there were any oysters around for him to catch ;-)
Before returning to the boat for dinner, we stayed on the Chinese hat long enough to see the beautiful sunset:
On the way back, I remembered just in time that it would be a shame to leave the Galapagos without a picture of me with some sea lions. So here it is - aren't they just the cutest animals ever?
Nevertheless, we saw a fine selection of wildlife again. Sea turtles and white-tip reef sharks were roaming in the waters of black turtle cove.
On the mangroves at the shores, some pelicans were nesting...
... while others just stood in the water enjoying the sun:
A little further, we saw this majestic blue heron who didn't seem to be disturbed by the dinghy passing right in front of him.
An early lunch and three hours of travel later, we arrived at the Chinese hat, an islet with the shape of, well, a Chinese hat. We went snorkeling first, and to my delight there were penguins swimming with us!
Towards the end of the snorkeling, I saw this brown bird sitting on the rocky shore:
Right next to him, two penguins were basking in the sun:
After a quick shower, we went to explore the Chinese hat on foot. There were several sea lions lying in the sand on the beach we landed at, and when another sea lion arrived, he was greeted like this:
Apparently the greeting wasn't too friendly, however, because the newcomer was chased away shortly after ;-)
I also learned something about the Sally lightfoot crabs that scurry about every beach and rocky shore of the Galapagos.
The guide explained that the crabs shed their shells every one to two years to be able to grow further. Before they do that, they dissolve the calcium contained in their old shell and integrate it into their blood. Then they squeeze out of their old shells - which are very light at this point - and construct a new one around themselves within one week, using the stored calcium .
I also saw an American oystercatcher - although I'm not sure there were any oysters around for him to catch ;-)
Before returning to the boat for dinner, we stayed on the Chinese hat long enough to see the beautiful sunset:
On the way back, I remembered just in time that it would be a shame to leave the Galapagos without a picture of me with some sea lions. So here it is - aren't they just the cutest animals ever?
