Tag Archives: Wildlife

Galapagos 5 (Thursday): What they tortoise

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5th April 2018

One of the things that the Galapagos is known for throughout the world is its giant tortoises, and they would be the climax of today’s excursion, on the island of Santa Cruz. This is one of the few populated islands in the archipelago and its principal town, a pretty place with a population of 24,000 called Puerto Ayora, is where we found ourselves in the morning – our first sight of “civilisation” (and the first mobile signal) since we set sail on Sunday.

So off we went to the town, boarding a bus for a 35-minute drive, with the highland part of the island our main objective. En route, we stopped off at a couple of locations of interest, such as a pair of sinkholes in the centre of the island. These may look like volcanic craters, but they’re not; they’re simply the result of the collapsed roof over a bubble that formed in the magma of some eruption in the island’s history.

The first one is at the start of a walk through a forest which features many of the various varieties of Darwin Finch, although I could never see them to photograph them. I did catch (but not kill) a mocking bird

but that was the extent of my ornithological photography.

The first hint of the tortoises on the island had actually come within a few minutes of setting out on our bus journey – one was simply beside one of the roads (and there were “beware tortoise” road signs in some places, too). Another hint was in the organisation of fences between fields, which are “living fences” based upon willow or birch simply rooted into the ground, but note that the lowest wire is a good distance off the ground; this lets the tortoises roam freely, as no-one is actually allowed to own a tortoise on this island.

This was among many facts explained to us by our other naturalist guide, Malena, in her educational session about tortoises at an educational centre where many can be found.

This was also an opportunity for some of the kids in our ship’s party to play games with seeing what it was like to be a giant tortoise.

Eventually, we were let out into the grounds, where we saw several giant tortoises. Some were by a pond

and others were simply roaming around.

The rest of the day was taken up with excursions to the local beach or the town itself (which offered the opportunity of a long drink at the well of internet goodness).

Jane’s afternoon’s excitement revolved around the Charles Darwin Research Station on the outskirts of Puerto Ayora, where the various island species of giant tortoise are reared as hatchlings and repatriated

and more mature individuals are kept for research.

it is also the last resting place of the famous Lonesome George who died, the lone representative of his species, at the not-so-ripe old age of 100. He was then well and truly stuffed and returned to a purpose built, humidity and light controlled exhibit where he stands as a reminder of the fragility of nature in the face of mankind’s thoughtlessness…

The walk back through town was remarkable for the number and variety of souvenir shops (mostly tasteful)

with wildlife visible at every turn

and the casual co-existence of said wildlife with the local humans

And so the day ended with the “giant tortoise” box well and truly ticked and it was, once again, Time For The Bar.

To see what happened on Day 6, click here.

Galapagos 4 (Wednesday): Rays your game before a Dolphin Shower

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4th April 2018

So, here we are at the half way point of an intensely enjoyable week. What could Wednesday bring, we wondered? “A mixed bag” was the answer.

The morning was spent on Floreana Island, at Punta Cormorant, which seemed a bit of a misnomer, as not a single cormorant was on offer. There were flamingoes;

even including a juvenile (marked out by the lack of pink colouration);

Noddy terns;

a flycatcher;

some beautifully colourful crabs;

inevitably, some Frigate birds;

and, excitingly, Eagle Rays swimming near the beach.

But not a single cormorant was on show – although there were some blue-footed boobies doing their fishing thang, which is not dissimilar to the cormorant’s diving style.

We were lucky to see the flamingoes – Jane and I visited the same place later on in the morning for a beach visit (which included an abortive attempt at snorkelling on my part which basically has put me off the idea for the rest of my life), and by that stage almost all of the flamingoes we’d seen earlier had vanished.

Later on that day we took a ride in one of the pangas (Zodiacs, RIBs, whatever you like to call them), which enabled us to see that the marine iguanas on this island were bigger than those of Española (though much less colourful).

The bird you can see walking among them is an American Oyster Catcher.

On the panga ride we saw rays and sharks in the water, and also some turtles, which occasionally came up for air (although apparently they can stay submerged for up to four hours, slowing their heart beat to around one beat per minute, down from the usual frenetic pulse of seven or eight).

The most dramatic photo opportunity came as we headed back to the ship, as it became clear that there was a pod of dolphins in the area, and they wanted to play.

and, indeed, were in very exuberant mood!

In the final part of the day, we visited another part of the island, called Post Office Bay, for the good reason that there is a post office there – of sorts. To be precise, it’s exactly the same sort of post office that can be found in Patagonia, at Wulaia Bay; a barrel where you put your postcard after you’ve taken a look at the cards already there to see if any are addressed to someone living near you, or in an area you plan to visit. So, a reliable delivery mechanism it ain’t; an opportunity for serendipity it certainly is.

Here is Natasha, one of our guides, explaining the idea in front of the barrel

after which everyone had a go at finding a card to deliver (ours will be to Chalfont St. Giles).

This was a busy, eventful day with many memorable moments. But the time with the pod of playful dolphins is one which everybody on the Origin saw, some got great underwater footage of and which was a highlight for everyone who was there that day.

To see the highlights of the next day (Day 5), click here.

Galapagos 3 (Tuesday): Nazca raising and shark fishing

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3rd April 2018

Boobies seem to form the majority of the land-based wildlife action of the first two days on this cruise. Today, the activity was based around the Galapagos island of Española, at the south-eastern corner of the archipelago. The morning excursion was basically a hike around the island to see what was on offer. Apart from the ubiquitous sealions

it became clear that there was going to be some serious marine iguana action, as there were plenty on the beach and surrounding rocks.

and after a while, it became equally clear that actually one had to watch one’s step, as, even though keeping carefully to a prescribed path, there was a serious danger of stepping on one. But it was great to see so many of them, in all of their various colours.

As well as the iguanas (marine iguanas exist only in the Galapagos, but there are 13 different varieties here), we also saw Sally Lightfoot crabs

and much bird life, including the Galapagos Dove

the Hood Mockingbird (largest of the various species of Mockingbirds found in the Galapagos)

the brown Pelican (the only sort found in the Galapagos)

a Yellow Warbler (called, very charmingly by our guide Natasha, a “Yellow Wobbler”)

and one (who knows which) of the thirteen species of Darwin’s Finch, the key to identification being the size and shape of the bill.

All this was within a few metres of the start of a 2-mile hike in increasingly hot conditions. But it got more and more interesting as we walked around.

We saw a site where many, many iguanas were setting up and guarding their burrows. This involved a certain amount of aggro as one female iguana tried to make sure that no other females came near her burrow.

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And the other side of the track, there was a cliff down which iguanas could be seen climbing, and entering the sea to feed.

We also caught a glimpse of the other kind of sealion to be found in the Galapagos, the furred sealion.

But actually our attention was mainly taken up with a colony of Nazca Boobies, the largest of the three sorts to be found here.

There were lots and lots of them, from newly-hatched youngsters

many of which were demanding to be fed

through “adolescent” birds

to adults, many of whom were raising chicks.

And of course the whole area was shared with the island’s other wildlife.

Around this point, at the northern end of the island, some people swore they saw an albatross. If so, it would have been a very early arrival, as they arrive during April to mate and breed and this was April 3. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. I certainly didn’t.

A little further on we had a bit of geological entertainment in the form of a blow-hole, which was both dramatic and beatifully colourful

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and we also spotted a Galapagos Hawk in the distance.

So it was a day of seeing some familiar and some new things. It was very hot by the time we finished, and so it was a blessed releief to get back to the ship and a nice cold drink. We were lazy the rest of the day (as I say, these blogs don’t write themselves) and with all of the photographic goodness from the morning to deal with, an afternoon of organising and writing and drinking beer beckoned, rather than the paddleboarding, snorkelling and beach (more bloody sealions!) offered. And so we had a relaxed afternoon, thinking we would save up energy for whatever the morrow had to offer. However, Mother Nature had one more surprise in store for us.

As yet another good dinner on the excellent M/V Origin drew towards a close, there was an excited announcement from the naturalist leader on the boat – sharks!

So we all congregated at the stern, where, in the ship’s lights, we could see shoals of fish swirling about. Two things made this unusual: firstly, the shoal was being hunted by maybe a dozen 2-metre long Galapagos sharks; and secondly, these were flying fish. There followed about half an hour of extraordinary scenes as sharks rushed in to attempt to take fish and the fish, in turn, took to the air to escape. It was an amazing scene, but very difficult to capture. Here’s the best attempt I made to capture the somewhat febrile atmosphere of the whole thing.

This was a remarkable, very unusual scene, and something we felt privileged to have seen. It’s been a lucky excursion – boobies with three eggs and indeed elsewhere with three chicks; leaping dolphins (you’ll have to read the next entry for that); fighting iguanas; juvenile flamingoes; we feel that we’ve got great value and insight out of our time here – and it’s not over, by any means.

Click here to see how day 4 went.