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!

 



 

Marine Iguanas On the Rocks – Punta Vicente Rocca – Isabela Island – Galapagos Islands

We had some interesting viewing of marine iguanas on this morning’s excursion!

Marine Iguana Hanging Out

I thought this was a cool shot.  The iguanas had to climb up there – I don’t know how, as the climbing looked to be difficult!  What I really liked about this image is the one iguana’s tail hanging off the edge of the rock perch.

Call the Meeting to Order

I got a kick out of this scene.  I know this sounds odd, but I flashed back to meetings I used to have in the corporate world – not to say that the people I met with were reptilian in nature or anything! 

Just Walk Away

This is another cool image.  The iguanas were gathered in the sun, just outside of a rock overhang.  And, there’s a little bird – a Sandpiper, I think -  that was walking around them, and then started heading toward the water.  I really like the feel of this image – 2 very different species just calmly co-existing.

Enjoy!

Marine Iguanas – Puerto Egas – Santiago Island – Galapagos Islands

Ok, I admit it.  These guys are really very ugly.  Whenever I look at them, I think of some very old “B” movies that I used to watch as a kid (and the movies were old even back then!) where creatures would always seem to be invading Japan and threatening the people there.  I’m not sure why these creatures always seemed to pick on Japan, but that’s a thought for another blog! 

Marine Iguana Close Up

When I thought of the Galapagos before visiting here, I always thought of it as having some creatures living there that seemed prehistoric…..and these guys certainly fit the bill!  They are actually fairly large, but not threateningly large!  It’s mainly their appearance that is so off-putting – they really didn’t care about us, and wouldn’t bite us or anything.  They are not meat eaters….at least not humans!

 

Iguanas Heading Out

The most amazing thing about these guys was that they were just all over the place!  As we walked, I almost tripped over a couple and was very careful to watch my step from that point on!  Again, they wouldn’t have hurt me; I just didn’t want to hurt them!

Iguanas on the Rocks

They really are sort of fascinating creatures, tho, and it was rather amazing how they tended to blend into their environment.  They spend time on the rocks warming their bodies, which is why they are just sort of laying around.  Once they get warmed up enough, they will head back out to the open water….

Iguana Hot Tub

…or enjoy themselves in what looks like the iguana version of a hot tub!  I couldn’t resist this shot!

Enjoy!