Galapagos Islands Tour Nov 4th, 2016

November 05, 2016 at 6:49 AM

November 4th, 2016 - Santiago Island & Sullivan Bay

Santiago Island. Our morning excursion starts at Playa Espumilla, one of the most beautiful beaches in the Galapagos. Thick mangroves along with flamingo and sea turtle nesting sites. Then later in the afternoon we sailed to Puerto Egas to see the salt crater as well as the dark sand beach and tidal pools. Santiago Island was the second of the Islands visited by Charles Darwin. In 1835 Darwin’s record of land iguanas is the only one that indicates there was a thriving population. Today land iguanas are extinct on Santiago but along the volcanic rock coast at sunset we saw many marine iguanas and other water fowl including several species of heron.  Enjoy todays photos.

Map showing where we sailed overnight.

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Espumilla beach, mangroves and turtle nesting sites ... And a beautiful morning.

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Omar talking about the formation of the island and the wildlife.

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A sandy crab as we walked along the beach.

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The tide and waves have brought these empty turtle eggs to the surfame.

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This juvenile Galapagos Eagle lands just above our heads while walking on the beach.

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He was curious about what we were up to.

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An HDR B&W image of the beach.

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Walking to the coast line this afternoon Omar found something interesting down low.

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Sleeping sea lion.

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A couple of herons on the rocky coast posed without any fear.

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Another heron, great colours thanks to an strong evening sunset.

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Blue heron busy fishing.

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Then taking flight.

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A sea turtle heading out to sea.

 

Dave photographing a sleepy subject.

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Pelican up close.

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Land iguana coming back from feeding, notice the green lips from the algae.

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Some of the group checking out the beach, watch your step.

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A strange combination by the coast, the yellow warblers feed on the flies at time of day.

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Another marine iguana swimming back to shore.

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Looks like his belly is full.

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You can see all the iguanas retuning from the ocean feeding on green algae.

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Notice the green lips.

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 A mom and her two week old baby.

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Mike and Sheena working their way along the shore.

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A lava heron, checks in.

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Another Galapagos Hawk lands near Violet.

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We enjoyed the photo opportunities as the hawk just sat on the rock ledge.

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Another shot of the hawk as the sun started to set.

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The start of evening light.

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Setting sun as we prepared to head back to the ship.

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We now start the long sail north to the island of Genovese. We will be sailing most of the night.

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That’s a wrap for this evening, early to bed from all the fresh air and to prepare for the long sail this evening. Good night from the Galapagos.



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Posted by Michelle Rondeau on
Great shots, James! Great memories! Thanks for sharing. Greetings to the "Trekkers".

Michelle
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