Galapagos Islands Tour Nov 3rd 2016
November 04, 2016 at 2:12 AM
November 3rd, 2016 - Santa Fe and the Land Iguanas
6:30 a.m. we did what they call a wet landing on the island of Santa Fe. We were greeted by a group of seals and sea lions. By the way wet landing means our zodiacs land on the beach and we get out into shallow beach water. Santa Fe is a rocky volcanic island with low sandy beaches and rocky higher coast lines to the south. Home to land iguanas, sea lions, seals, and many species of birds including the Galapagos hawk. We spent a couple of hours hiking the trail through the cactus forest photographing the land iguanas and small birds ... not to mention the beautiful landscapes. Later this morning the group had their first opportunity to go snorkelling followed by our ship repositioning and a later afternoon visit to the mangrove lagoons on Santa Cruz.
The mangrove lagoon is home to spotted manta rays, giant sea turtles, white tip sharks, blue footed boobies and many other shore birds. We continued to explore the lagoons until sunset. An amazing first day in the Galapagos.
Overnight we sail to the island of San Salvador and Sullivan Bay. Below is a selection of photographs from todays activities.
Map showing our overnight sailing route from San Cristobal to Santa Fe and Santa Cruz.
Our group landing on Santa Fe as a mother and baby greet us.
Since this was a wet landing a few minutes to dry off and shoes for the trails.
A few of the locals stopping for photos.
The early morning sun added to the colour.
A slight altercation on the beach.
They love to climb on the lava rocks.
Many interesting cactus can be found on the island.
Two babies run to greet us.
Mike checks out this little guy.
The sand made this guy look like he was wearing a wig.
Yellow warbler looking for food.
Close-up.
Violet taking a shot.
Mike heading out to photograph the land iguanas.
The first large land iguana on the trail.
Look at the size of those feet!
Another land iguana, they are catching the early morning light to warm up.
Omar, Bernarda, Ray, Brian and Mike capturing a few images on the rocky trail.
Bernarda back on the beach.
Mike and Kathy taking a few shots of this baby seal. He’s about 4 weeks old.
Everyone’s having a rest in the morning sun, now time for us to head back to our ship for breakfast.
Omar giving snorkeling instructions.
Sheena and Ray, ready to go.
Ken checking out the shore birds from our ship.
Ray enjoying his first Galapagos snorkeling experience.
Bernarda checking out the underwater beauty of the coastline.
Snorkeling along the Santa Fe island coast with our ship in the background.
Time to head back to our ship.
A pelican flying past our ship.
Later this afternoon we visited the mangrove lagoons at the back of Santa Fe island.
A Blue Footed Booby diving into the water for fish.
They fold their wings back and dive into the water like bullets.
Blue Heron along the shore of the mangroves.
Heading deeper into the mangroves to look for sea turtles.
A pelican checking us out.
More blue footed boobies.
A sally light footed crab keeping a close eye.
A sea turtle surfacing for air.
A close up as he takes a breath.
We are now headed deeper into the mangroves, having to duck as we went under the next group of mangroves.
Blue footed boobies at sunset.
Sunset over the cactus rows as we head back to our ship.
Our final image is a map showing where we will be sailing overnight as we head to the island of San Salvador and Sulivan Bay. You can see with the two colours our sailing route so far.
That’s a wrap for this evening, time for dinner and early to bed as we have another 6:30 a.m. landing tomorrow morning. Good night from all of us here in the Galapagos Islands.