North Seymour Island, Friday 11 November

Joel and boobies

The Galapagos trip ended up being a saga rather than a post. This will be the last post on this trip. It was amazing. This post is dedicated to all of the folk that helped me get back on the trail, and stick to it.

For links to the whole trip please go to the first Galapagos post.

This was our last day in the Galapagos. At this point I was whooped, tired, spent.

Look carefully at the time table listings. Brutal hours.

A million thanks to Lulu for insisting that I go on this last walk. I was was going to forego this last walk. I thought it was one of the rougher ones, and I did not want to give out and make everyone miss their flight. The whole point of this particular walk was to see the sun rise.

What I didn't understand until later, is that this early, early time is the most active time for the birds.

The boobies feed just after dawn. They fly along the shore, looking for schools. The lead bird sees an opportunity, and starts the dive. Beak closed, they dive straight down. Closed because the force of the water on the dive would break the beak. They then come up on the school from below to nab a fish. (My apologies at my lack of skill in doing videos. I will get better.)

Boobie

More boobies

Mating Boobies

Boobies on the rocks

Sea Lions masquerading as rocks

Mama and baby Sea Lion

Alpha male sea lion

Frigate Birds. These odd, large birds fly with the
boats, hoping for a meal. And all of our food wastes
they enjoyed.
The red pouch is inflated by the males.
This takes over a half hour, so we were lucky to see this.

When all is said and done, would I do it again? Absolutely. Would I do it differently? Probably.

I did not get to get as much of the local people stuff. Politics is difficult in all of Latin America, Equator is no exception. The social/ecological experiment of restoring the islands to their pre-Columbian splendor should be looked at by any group wanting to create an eco groovy place. They really are heading in the right direction

I feel that we really lucked out with having Lulu and Joel as guides. The Tip Top crew was fantastic beyond all expectations. Our travel mates were fabulous. What an amazing experience.

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