Morning Walk – Part 2

And so we continue with our morning hike right where we left off…..

Long Shot of Marine Iguanas

More marine iguanas!  But, you have to admit, this is kind of a cool shot of them!  I don’t know why they always seem to bunch together – as you can see, there’s plenty of beach to spread out!

Pop of Color

More lovely cool water to gaze upon!  As I was longing to leap into the water (it was really getting very hot right about now), I noticed the 2 pops of color – they are the ever-bright Sally Lightfoot Crabs sitting on the rocks!

Sally Lightfoots in the Surf

And, here’s a closer shot of them, as the surf crashes around them – I just love their bright color!

Galapagos Blue

We’re still at the same vantage point, but I just wanted to include this so you could see the wonderful blue shades of the sea around this area.  It really is paradise!

Basking in the Sun

So, I have to tell you about this little guy.  He kept following us as we hiked along the shore.  As we walked from one cove to the next, I watched him as he swam to keep up with us, and would then come on shore as if asking us to play with him.  And, he kept striking these poses.  What a ham!

Peaceful Waters

An image of what is the stereotypical picture of a deserted island.  Just looking at this makes me feel calm and relaxed.

Whale Skeleton

I’m not certain how long this skeleton has been here, but I think it’s been there quite a while.  The most amazing thing to me is that this skeleton is fairly far from the shore.  It wasn’t moved by anyone – this is how it was found.  So, how did it get here?  A mystery.

Clear Water

And, we’ll end this hike with yet another image of water.  This is internal and I love how clear it is.  After this, we were on to our panga and back to our ship!

Enjoy!

 

Morning Walk Along Espinoza Point on Fernandina Islands in the Galapagos Islands

I thought I’d do something different for this series of blog posts (along Espinoza Point).  I thought I’d just take you along on the morning hike with us, showing you the sights we saw as we saw them!

Soft Morning

Our day began with this lovely sunrise.  It just seemed so soft and gentle, a nice way to start the day.

A Smiling Iguana

I know these are really sort of creepy looking creatures, but I just had to smile because I felt like this guy was smiling at us as we started our hike along Espinoza Point.

Iguanas on the Shore

And, the guy above was from a throng of dozens (maybe hundreds) of marine iguanas that lined the shoreline.  It’s amazing – they have no sense of personal space – they just lay all over each other.

Posing

And, they just sort of walk all over each other, too!  Here’s another guy, seemingly smiling at us.  Well, let’s move on…

Walking Along the Shore

I really did love the peaceful feel that I’d get from looking out on the great scenery.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t dwell on it for too long, or I’d lose track of my group and be lost!

Crab Walk

This is probably one of those brightly colored Sally Lightfoot Crabs (just love that name!).  However, I saw it silhouetted on the lava rocks with the water behind it, and had to capture this very cool image.

Driftwood

There’s nothing like a piece of driftwood to make one feel like one’s on a deserted island.  I guess technically this is a deserted island, since no humans live on it.  However, it certainly isn’t deserted of life!

Natural Coves

I loved that this part of our hike was along the shoreline.  Altho the equator sun was getting hotter (nothing so gentle as “warm”), looking at the cool water helped me think perhaps I wasn’t really as hot as I felt!

Mom and Baby Sea Lion

It’s really wonderful how the animals show absolutely no fear of humans here.  Of course, they are and have been totally protected, so it’s not surprising – just wonderful.  Here’s a Mom Sea Lion feeding her little one breakfast.

Hungry Baby

And, here’s a close up of the little tyke!

Flightless Cormorant Nesting

Next, we happened across a flightless cormorant in her nest.  We were probably closer to her than the 15 feet distance that we are supposed to keep, but she chose to make her nest right along the path we were to follow!

Mama Ain’t Happy

She wasn’t really happy with our closeness and certainly let us know! 

Settling Down

But, she quickly realized that we were just passing thru, and settled down to the business of hating some new little cormorants!

More to come in Part 2 of our hike this morning….

Enjoy!