Galapagos Islands

Why would I want to re-visit the Galapagos Islands? The wildlife was unabashedly interested in humans. That’s why. There were always curious sea lions, red and quick footed Sally Light Fish Crab, bored iguanas and sometimes, nosey blue-footed boobies.  My first land encounter with Blue Footed Boobies was after walking inland past a beach and seeing these two fantastic birds walking toward me. They came quite close and seemed mildly interested in me. I recall thinking one was giving the other a jaded look as if to say, “Look who is this visiting our neighborhood this morning?”

Each island was so different. I liked the lava fields on James Island just formed from 1875 to 1900. The big tortoises were cool. The cormorants sharing the drift wood with the iguanas was otherworldly in a stark and somber way. Make sure you book a boat trip for at least 10 days to see most of it. This is what I had to write about Day 8 on the boat:

I swam with the penguins today during a snorkeling session around Pinnacle Rock. They were quick but I gave chase. Then I dove down to the ocean surface to see a white shark (about 3 feet long) sleeping under a rock formation. I felt intrusive and was glad the shark didn’t seem to wake.  There are tons of fish to see here. After the snorkeling, I swam back to the boat and flopped in like a fish. Cold shower on the ship felt fine. Then went on the panga to see another island and en route, I watched a big sea turtle swimming in the water. When we closed in on the shore, I saw four-eyed blenny flopping onto land and jumping about. Once on shore, I sat on the rocks watching the waves splash around colorful crabs and a 3 foot black iguana who was munching on barnacles. The sea lions looked and sounded like they were having a great time on the beach. I saw some exquisite larva formations at Sullivan Bay today. And how could I forget? I felt the teeth on a dead iguana; they were skinny and sharp. In a later snorkeling session, I saw a reef white tip shark, a spotted eagle ray and a stone scorpion fish. Tonight’s lecture was about color in fish.

A trip to the Galapagos Islands is worth the time.

sea lion

Iguana

TATTOO—Journeys on My Mind by Tina Marie L. Lamb is available at Amazon and BarnesandNoble and iBooks.

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