Galápagos Islands, Ecuador 🇪🇨
I slept for 10hours last night, solidly, so I was a little sleepy at breakfast. Our first excursion today was in the Dingys into Elizabeth bay and a mangrove area. We weaved in and out watching Blue Footed Boobies, Pelicans and Flightless Cormorants fish with some spectacular dives. Further in there were turtles and a group of Eagle Rays enjoying the currents. There were a few Sea Lions happy to do some twists and turns for the camera, before we reached a site where the turtles sleep. At least they were before we arrived! Returning to the boat we had a few Galápagos Penguins just happily preening their feathers and doing rolls in the water.
We navigated further round the bay hoping to see whales or dolphins in the deeper water but didn’t spot any. Anchored at Unvina bay we set off for a snorkel towards the beach. Along the rocks as we headed in were Marine Turtles feeding on the algae. Some of them were huge and just looked like boulders rolling as the currents pulled back and forth. At one point I had four around me and I was worried I would bump into one as they surfaced for air. It was a great snorkelling session, and despite the colder sea we stayed a good hour watching the turtles, huge shoals of fish or the Pelicans and Flightless Cormorants who were diving to grab them.
Post a hot shower we landed on the beach for a short stroll inland. This time we saw Yellow Iguanas, much bigger than the black ones we had seen previously and with colouring similar to an autumn leaf. We spotted one giant tortoise trying to sleep and a few nesting sites. There are several small Finches and more Iguanas towards the beach, even a couple fighting which seemed long-winded.
