Bird Sightings

This is a list of some of the birds I spotted:

blue footed boobies, nazca boobies, storm pestrels, brown noddies, great and magnificent frigate birds, galapagos penguins, lava gulls, swallowtailed gulls, redbilled tropic birds, lava and striated herons, galapagos hawks, darwins finches (quite a variety), galapagos mockingbirds, hood is. mockingbirds, cactus finches, willets

And others I've likely forgotten to write down.

Jan 27 Afternoon

Went deep water snorkeling again at a rock formation called The Devil's Crown. It was amazing. Sharks, sea lions, turtles, amazing fish, plants. I am hooked. As much as I like birds and flowers I now believe the most beautiful things on this earth live under the sea. Hey, Jen, I may have to take up scuba diving! The boat then headed to Santa Cruz where we get off tomorrow. On bow, it was dolphin watch. A pod of bottlenose dophins did join the boat to play for awhile. I didn't go get the camera expecting them to be gone by the time I returned. Tomorrow morning we go to the Darwin Centre where they raise tortoise babies to return to proper islands and do research. Then, off to Baltra and our flight to Quito via Guayaquil.

Floreana Island

It is a beautiful island and we had fun here. It is named for President Flores who was the one who claimed the Galapagos for Ecuador. Peru wanted the area. Ecuador and Peru have a very hostile history and continue to harbour ill feelings. Ecuador is very self sufficient when it come to agriculture which is rather unique, I understand, for South America. One thing I have noticed in the port towns, Quito, in the rural areas, Mindo, etc is that despite the extreme levels of poverty, people dress nicely and are very clean. There is always someone sweeping the streets and plazas, doing roadwork, making sure the gutters are free to carry rainwater. Although the guides claim elementary school is mandatory, I've certainly seen lots of kids who have opted out or have been kept out to work. Clothes (not well made stuff but clothes) are fairly inexpensive. Other things, however, are not. Food is not cheap. A washing machine is about $800 and old fashioned tvs sell for $400-500. A relatively small (by our standards) flat screen was $1700. A gas range was $900 and a fridge was $1000.

Other side of the island

We trekked over to the other side and found a really neat cove. Underneath the blonde sand was green sand. The compost is really what makes the difference but it was so shallow. We also got to stand in the water have rays just swim around our feet and between our legs. It was startling but also sensuous as they just skimmed about.

Cormorant Point

Did a wet landing and took a hike to a lava tube. Much different from the other one. Very steep, needed flashlights, poor Linda took a slip and really skinned her elbow. We went way into the tunnel and I went into the water up to my waist to see the other end. Cool water and it was salty (I tasted it to be sure). It was quite a climb to get out.

Jan 27 Just an Amazing Day

We did a wet landing today to go to Post Office Bay. There is an old barrel there and sailors used to leave mail there hoping someone would pick it up and send it home. We picked up 4 postcards and will mail them once we get back. A card to Katharine is in the barrel but who knows when and if it will show up. It was an Irishman who started this with his post selling staples. It was also called the first Irish Pub as he distilled sugar cane.

We Were Not Suppose to see Them

There were many things we hoped to see and we hoped to see the Waved Albatoss. Unfortunately, we were told, the season was over and the birds would be migrating and gone. Well, my luck held out. As we turned a corner on a cliff we came upon an albatross just getting ready to try his luck. He'd be about 7 months old. He flapped and flapped and really was thinkging about it, but decided he'd try tomorrow. The adults kept flying over as encouragement but he had a bird brain mind of his own. As we walked again, we found ones about a few weeks younger than our timid flyer. Lucky we were.