Virtual Galápagos

Tuesday, 31 July

Our 2013 non-Phaeton adventures are just 19 days away.  Where will we go?  The unveiling of our plans will be posted soon.

In the meantime, the prospect of tons of new video footage to process was all the incentive Mui needed to finish the editing work on last year’s wonderful trip to the Galápagos.

If you’d like to take a virtual trip to the Galápagos and walk in our footsteps, click here to go to the online album we created on Vimeo.  You will get to visit Santiago, Rábida, Isabela, Bartolomé, Santa Cruz, North Seymour, San Cristóbal, and Kicker Rock; not to mention explore Quito and its environs with us.  You will get to enjoy close encounters with fearless wildlife on land and sea, and in the air; and get to do some snorkeling, too.

If you’re interested in the story of our trip, click here to go to the first of many posts from our Itinerary B Xpedition trip with Celebrity.  All of the posts are in the July 2012 archive in the sidebar.

Isabela: Caleta Tagus … Darwin’s Lake Walk

Tuesday, July 10 (Part IV)

After the zodiac portion of our afternoon activity (post here), we headed to the landing site for a short walk.  This was our only opportunity to walk on Isabela Island. 

The landing was described as a tricky, dry landing.  Tricky it was in that the zodiac nosed up to the shoreline and we had to step out onto wet rocks that could be slippery.  Just before we debarked the panga, the crewman on shore put down a wet Celebrity beach towel to help with traction, so it turned out to be not too bad after all.

Nosing up to these rocks, we’ll land for our short walk.
Note the graffiti on the rocks.  is it all historic? …

… I don’t think so.  Some of these are dated 2007; and I think Flugt 77 is a reference to
the American Airlines flight that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11.
So much for graffiti being prohibited now :-(

The walk began with 150 steep steps.  Taking it slow, most of us made it up OK, but at least one person in the group gave up and returned to the landing site instead of continuing the short distance to the lake.

These steep steps lead to an overlook with a view of Caleta Tagus.

The path to the Darwin’s Lake overlook was narrow and followed the rim of a volcanic tuff cone.  Darwin mentions swimming in this crater lake when he visited the island in 1835.  It is thought that the crater was filled by a tidal wave resulting from the eruption of a volcano on neighboring Fernandina Island.  (History does record an eruption that took place in 1825.)  About 60 feet (18 m) deep, the lake is saltier than the surrounding sea water.  This is attributed to the fact that as the water in the lake evaporates, it leaves behind its salt content.  This salt is added to the sea water that seeps into the crater from the porous rocks that form the sides of the crater, thus increasing the salinity.

Two to Travel at Darwin’s Lake.

We didn’t go much further than this overlook.  Yes, it was a short walk; perhaps a little too short.  But I’m still glad we chose this over the alternative of the ‘fitness walk’.  Those who took the longer walk later confirmed that they indeed made only a few stops.  I can speed-walk for exercise when I get home :-)

From the bottom of the steps looking towards the landing site.

The hours after our return to the Xpedition were not all that different from yesterday.  We cleaned up, downloaded pictures and videos, and joined our shipmates in the Discovery Lounge for the briefing on tomorrow’s activities.  Oh yeah; one difference — instead of piña colada, the featured cocktail was the blue-footed booby!

The blue-footed booby is made with Cana Manabita (Or rum), pineapple juice, Blue Curacao, & cream.

We joined the Passmans for dinner once again.  We’ve been struck by how much this family of four — mom, dad, and two adult kids — really enjoy each other’s company.  We also invited Scott and Cindy from Toronto, whose company we had enjoyed previously, to join our table.  The conversation was lively; always an indication of a good evening.

Our selections from the Day 3 Menu.

We wanted to round out the night with a bit more stargazing.  We even went up to deck 6 with our travel flashlight to make it easier to find our way to the bow.  Alas, the cloud cover got in the way.  Maybe tomorrow night.

The Xpedition will be rounding the tip of Isabela Island overnight, once again taking us briefly into the northern hemisphere before we head south of the Equator to our next island.  Let’s see, on this trip we’ve traveled between the hemispheres twice already; today will make it three times.  Or should I double that number, counting once each way for a total of six crossings :-)  Regardless, even though we elected not to attend tonight’s ‘crossing the line ceremony’ and pay our respects to King Neptune — not our cup of tea, I’m afraid — we definitely deserve the certificates that were sitting on the bed when we returned to the cabin.

It’s official!

P.S.  For those curious, there’s more about the crossing ceremony and its origins here.

Isabela: Caleta Tagus by Panga

Tuesday, 10 July (Part III)

After the deepwater snorkel participants returned to the ship, the Xpedition remained at anchor in Caleta Tagus for the next activity of the afternoon.  Tagus Cove, by the way, was named for a British naval vessel that moored here in 1814 to look for giant tortoises, a favored source of meat for seafarers of yon.

The arrow points to the site of our two afternoon activities.
[map courtesy of the GalapagosIslands.com website]

There were two options given for the post-snorkel activities — a long fitness walk and short zodiac ride vs an extended zodiac ride and short walk.  We opted for the latter.  Not because the first option was difficult; it wasn’t.  We just wanted a slower pace to appreciate what we were seeing and doing.

To keep the number of people on the trail manageable, the last couple of groups to leave the ship did the zodiac ride first.  The panga hugged the rocky shoreline where the wave action was strong, but our driver managed to give us a relatively steady ride.  This option was definitely the better choice for us as we saw quite a bit of wildlife perched on shore, including flightless cormorants drying out their wings after a swim.

A sally lightfoot crab trods over a barnacle-covered rock.
barnacles are related to crabs and lobsters.  The nutrient-rich, cold waters of
Bolivar Channel, where the Cromwell current upwells, is an ideal habitat for them.

From its size, I’d guess this is a young marine iguana.  the A. c. albemarlensis, Named for
rulers of spain, is a different species from the iguanas we saw on Santiago yesterday.

Brown Pelican — breeding adult (left) and Flightless Cormorant.

the iconic pose of a flightless cormorant shows its stubby, useless-for-flight wings.
some sources say that cormorants use this posture to dry their wings, others
believe it aids thermoregulation, digestion, and balancing.

Note the fuzz on the wings of the flightless cormorant center right;
this is a juvenile that is just shedding its baby down.

Like other penguin species, the Galápagos penguin is monogamous and mates for life.
Less social than the other species, they live in pairs or small groups of 5-6 penguins.
the small population of 2,000 or so penguins are concentrated mostly around
Isabela and fernandina islands where the cromwell upwelling brings the colder,
nutrient-rich  waters of the humboldt current to the surface.

The great blue heron is not endemic to the archipelago.  It is believed to have arrived
here from Central America or extreme northwestern Ecuador, where it is rare.

This marine iguana is getting the ‘spa treatment’ from a Darwin’s Finch.

The Nazca Booby is sufficiently different from the masked booby so as to be
considered a separate species Nearly endemic to the Galápagos Islands.

Compared to the blue-footed boobies we saw at Elizabeth Bay, these birds have
less yellow on their iris; this identifies them as female.

The eroded cliff ledges make a good resting spot for sea lions and marine iguanas.

From this point, we continued onto the land portion of our afternoon activity … coming up in the next post.

Isabela: Deepwater Snorkel

Tuesday, 10 July (Part II)

After returning from our zodiac ride in Elizabeth Bay (post here), we had free time aboard the ship while the second group went out for their ride.  We took advantage of this time to relax on deck 6 and keep an eye out for whales and dolphins.  No luck with any sightings.

Once the second group returned to the ship shortly before noon, the Xpedition weighed anchor and started the short transit north to the site of our afternoon activities — Caleta Tagus (Tagus Cove) — via the Bolivar Channel between Isabela and Fernandina islands.

The arrow points to the site of our two afternoon activities.
[map courtesy of the GalapagosIslands.com website]

The transit took about 2 hours, which gave us time to have lunch on deck 5 (carried from the Italian buffet featured in the Darwin Restaurant).  The BBC film, Galápagos (Part II), was being screened in the Discovery Lounge after lunch.  Having watched the entire series shortly before we left on our trip, we skipped the documentary and relaxed on deck 6 instead — reading (me) and napping (Mui).

At our Caleta Tagus anchorage, the zodiacs are readied for the first afternoon activity.

At 3:00p, Mui joined the rest of the snorkelers for the deepwater experience.  Different from the off-beach snorkels, this one left directly from the ship and participants had to get in/out of the water from the panga via a ladder.

For this snorkeling experience, those participating gear up on deck 3 aft before …

… they take off to the snorkeling site by zodiac.

This activity was billed as suitable for advanced snorkelers.  What that really meant was that those participating needed to be comfortable in depths where there was no possibility of standing to rest.  (Mui didn’t use one, but snorkeling vests were available.)

Mui said the currents were stronger, so you had to be more careful about being washed up against the rocky shoreline.  Also, because the water was open to the sea, visibility wasn’t very good, either.  The murkiness could have been due to plankton and other microscopic life in the water.  After all, there is a reason why this area is popular with dolphins and whales.

That description of the deepwater experience is all well and good, but that wasn’t the first thing out of his mouth when he returned to the ship.  When I asked him how it was, “Coooooldddd,” was his response.  And yes, he stretched out the word :-)  Regardless, he had a big grin on his face, so I know he enjoyed himself.

Here’s a bit from Mui’s snorkeling experience; you can see how much stronger the
currents were from the movement of the camera, especially when he was
swimming with the Galápagos green turtles.

So what did I do while Mui was off snorkeling?  I wandered around the ship, taking photos of the graffiti on the cliffs.  Historically, Caleta Tagus was an anchorage spot for pirates, whalers, and wayfarers who carved the names of their ships on the rocks.  The oldest of these apparently date back to 1836 and 1846.  The practice is now prohibited, of course; but I did see some that were dated as late as 2007.

Can you see the graffiti on the cliffs?  Look at the striated rocks?  Still not seeing them ...

… how about now?
Labeling the graffiti as historic still doesn’t make it right (IMHO).

The graffiti documented, I took advantage of one of the umbrella-shaded tables at the Beagle Grill to enjoy a cold beverage and some reading time until the snorkel pangas started to trickle back to the ship.

Mui’s smiling; must’ve been a good snorkel!

Time to get ready for the next activity of the afternoon!

Isabela: Elizabeth Bay by Panga

Tuesday, 10 July
Temps: 84F (29C) / 72F (22C)

They say the early bird gets the worm.  No thanks, but I’ll take a colorful sunrise, please.

Only a few of us crazy photographers are up to enjoy the sunrise from the ship’s bow.

The gorgeous sunrise wasn’t the only great part of the dawning day.  There were whales in the bay, too.  Three of them came up for air next to the ship to give us a thrill.  Even better, Mui and I got to enjoy their company by ourselves :-)  No photos, I’m afraid; there just wasn’t enough light to take pictures of them.  Nor was an ID possible.  We recorded the sightings in our ‘gray cells’ and just enjoyed being at one with nature on a quiet morning in the Galápagos.

Once the sun is up, the scenery at our anchorage becomes visible.
the Mariela islets are straight ahead; no visitors allowed, I’m afraid.

Having briefly crossed into the northern hemisphere overnight to round the top of the island, the Xpedition was now south of the Equator, anchored off the west coast of Isabela (Albemarle to the British).  Shaped like a seahorse, this is the largest of the islands in the archipelago; and one of the few inhabited ones.  Formed by the joining of six shield volcanoes, Isabela is also one of the youngest islands of the Galápagos.

The arrow points to the site of our morning landing.
[map courtesy of the GalapagosIslands.com website]

Everyone did the same thing for this morning’s excursion — a 1½-hour zodiac ride at Elizabeth Bay.  Since there is a limit of three zodiacs at this site, there were two options offered — 8:00a or 10:00a; we had no problems getting seats for the earlier outing.  Hanging back, we were in the last zodiac of the early group with just 10 people, which made moving around when we were taking photographs easier.  No one seemed to want the bow position, so I sat down on the steps and worked from there.

Zodiacs are not great for photography, but we’ve managed to get some decent shots from these unstable platforms on past trips.  This morning, it was a bit more challenging than usual as our driver was having trouble keeping us situated in front of the wildlife.  To be sure, it’s not an easy feat to keep a zodiac steady, but it’s doable by gunning the engine just enough to counteract the current.  Oh well; we did the best we could under the circumstances.

En route to the lagoon at Elizabeth Bay, we made a brief stop at a rocky islet for our first close encounter with blue-footed boobies and flightless cormorants, the latter an endemic species.

One part of the name of the blue-footed booby comes from the Spanish term bobo,
which means fool or clown, and is in reference to their clumsy and awkward
movements on land.  The other part of the name needs no explanation.

Blue-footed boobies have excellent binocular vision, which aids in the
underwater pursuit of their prey.

The foot color of the male is a secondary sexual characteristic.  The coloration is
extremely sensitive, with changes perceivable by the females within a 48-hour period.

I watched this bird carefully, hoping it would make a meal of the crab i n front of it;
I was doomed to be disappointed.

The male blue-footed booby has more yellow on its iris than the female.

With a population of approx. 1,600 adults, the Flightless Cormorant is a species
endemic to Isabela and the neighboring island of Fernandina.  These cormorants
were all too busy preening, and didn’t cooperate for their photo-op.

With no predators to worry about, the ability to swim was more important for these
cormorants.  Over time, their wings became short stubs and they lost their ability to fly.

Here’s a picture of a flightless cormorant drying out his short,
stubby wings as a blue-footed booby looks on.
[photo courtesy of a naturalist.]

As the panga moved closer to the mangrove habitat that was the focus of today’s ride, we came across another bird that we just had to stop for.

This Galápagos Hawk perched patiently while we all clicked away with our cameras.

Landings are not allowed in the mangroves that surround the lagoon.  Our naturalist said snorkeling and swimming are prohibited, too; but that’s contradicted by the Galápagos Conservancy website.  Perhaps he was just trying to discourage people from taking the plunge.  It's also possible that while water activities are allowed in the bay outside they are prohibited in the lagoon.  In any event, I can see how the clear, shallow water with all kinds of underwater life could have been a temptation for the snorkelers amongst us — ooops; sorry, Mr Naturalist, I fell in :-)

As we rode around in the zodiac, we saw many a sea turtle swimming both in and outside the lagoon, as well as eagle and golden cownose rays, penguins, and sea lions.

The scenery from the entrance to the mangrove habitat.

The three pangas went into different coves and we only saw the others in passing.

a polarizer would have made for a better picture of the Golden Cownose Rays
(aka hawkrays), but there simply wasn’t time to put it on the lens.  From a distance,
these rays look like giant leaves floating on the water.  Not endemic to the islands,
they can be seen in many places in Central and South America.

The Galápagos Green Turtle is an endemic subspecies of the Green sea turtle.
they are the only ones that nest in the Archipelago.
[photos courtesy of Xpedition Naturalists.]

Of the 18 species of penguins that live in the southern hemisphere,
the endemic Galápagos Penguin is the only one to live this far north.
[photo courtesy of an xpedition naturalist.]

Bookend Brown Pelicans — actually the same bird from different angles.
No brown feathers on the back of the neck makes this a nonbreeding adult.
despite their size, Brown Pelicans can sit on branches that are just finger-thick.

A pair of playful sea lions entertain us for a while, …

… and another one comes close to check us out!

And now for the pièce de résistance of this outing — a juvenile striated heron (aka the mangrove heron) … at least that’s what I think this bird is.  I photographed it thinking it was a juvenile yellow-crowned night heron, but looking at it later, I realized its eyes were the wrong color.  No wonder the naturalists were so excited about this rare sighting.

The Galápagos Diary (by Herman Heinzel and Barnaby Hall) shows a map with sightings of this bird on Isabela Island, so the chances are good that we did indeed see the striated heron.  At the time the book was written (copyright 2000) Heinzel mentions this bird as being a recently known breeder in the islands.  Here’s a small excerpt:

Green Heron — Striated Heron — Lava Heron: Are they three different species or subspecies of a widely distributed small heron?  If so, they should all be lumped as one species, Mangrove Heron.

… Perhaps Striated is only a colour phase of the all-dark slate–coloured Lava Heron, or is it a more recent colonist (at least over a 100 years) and still only found in mangroves.

And therein lies the eternal quest of birders … is it or is not?

only this bird knows for sure what kind of heron it is :-)

On the way back to the ship, we asked if we could swing by the larger of the Marielas islets.  No can do; they are highly protected.  Our naturalist even got his knuckles rapped — virtually — when the bridge noticed us slowing down as we passed by.  Honest, we weren’t going that slow; didn’t even get one decent picture of the blue-footed boobies on the guano-painted rocks.