Galapogos Adventures

Moonshadow of London
Peter Mantle
Thu 28 Feb 2008 09:56
00:45.38S  90:17.81W
 
We embarked on Coral I for our 4 day cruise around the islands on 24th February and were delighted to be on a boat where we had no responsibility for either its operation or the provision of breakfast, lunch and dinner. We visited three islands and with the help of the Naturalist on board learnt a great deal about the geology of the area and the the lifecycle of the Giant Tortoise, Iguanas, Sealions, Blue footed Boobies and many more creatures. The most striking thing we noticed at first was the fearlessness of all the wildlife.When we landed either on a beach or onto the rocks from the Zodiac creatures either moved towards us or ignored us completely. Blue Footed Boobies nesting on the pathway were oblivious to the feet of visitors passing by and sealions came up to us as we sat on the white sand beach and sniffed our legs.Perhaps the most memorable part of the trip was snorkeling with the sealions. They swam straight toward us, rolling sideways at the last moment with a look which seemed to say that they relished our presence in their enviroment. Underwater we swum with White Tipped Reef Sharks, Rays, Turtles and schools of  brightly coloured fish. We also had the good fortune to see a Marine Iguana eating weed from the rocks on the seabed.On land we watched Frigate birds displaying their vermillion red distended necks to attract a mate, saw a Blue Footed Booby hatch out of its egg and saw Flamingoes dreging a brackish lake for the minute crustacea which make them that bright salmon pink

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