Galapagos Island Tour - 2002
There are probably hundreds of books about the Galapagos
Islands and Charles Darwin.
Some people say you should spend a minimum
of a week on the islands to do it all justice.
However I thoroughly enjoyed my 4 days and 3 nights on a small
cruise ship (about 60 passengers).
The time was good for me, but if you are a "birder", you might want
to consider more.
My recommendation is that whatever time you spend,
you should go for a tour on a ship that
travels among the islands, rather than staying on one island and making
day trips to different islands.
It costs more that way, but it's worth it because you can relax on the
ship after your shore excursions while your ship takes you to the next island.
Here are some pictures of the major species we saw.
Blue-footed Boobies
|
Red-footed Boobies
|
Nazca Boobies
|
Frigate Birds
|
Galapagos Penguins
These are the cutest little dears!!
They're the only species of penguin on the equator.
|
|
|
Sea Lions
on the white sand beach.
They also like surfing in on the waves offshore.
|
Sea Lions
enjoying the warm volcanic rock along the shore.
This is also a favourite sunning ground for the marine iguanas.
|
|
I think my favourites were the little
marine iguanas.
They were so ugly they were cute.
Look at this little pair holding hands:
Big land animals are the land iguanas and the giant tortoises.
Land Iguana
|
Giant Tortoise
|