Galapagos Islands

Gosh, where do I begin? I booked a trip to the Galapagos Islands, knowing that I'd be going on a cruise to several of the islands and seeing rare birds, plants and other animals. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was blown away by the beauty, remoteness and the sheer number of animals that abounded in the Galapagos.





The Galapagos Islands are part of Ecuador, about 1000 km or 620 miles to the west of mainland South America. My friend Char and I flew into one of 3 airports situated on the islands, to San Cristobal. We visited 9 of the islands in the Galapagos archipelago: San Cristobal, Espanola, Floreana, Santa Cruz, North Seymour, Chinese Hat Island, Bartalome (and Black Turtle Sea Cove), South Plaza Island and Santa Fe. The Galapagos Island of Santa Cruz hosts the Charles Darwin Research Center, as the Galapagos Islands, with their unique breeds of animals, were where Darwin came up with his theories of natural selection and evolution.

Among the many things we saw: Marine iguanas- the only iguanas that swim, land iguanas, lava lizards, mockingbirds, sea turtles, sea lions, blue-footed boobies (bird with blue feet), nazca boobies (black feet- we didn't get to see the red-footed boobies), many colorful crabs, frigit birds, swallow-tailed doves, Galapagos doves, Galapagos sharks, galapagos hawks, Darwin finches, yellow warblers (bird), galapagos penguins, sting rays, manta rays, pelicans, herons, albatross, giant land tortoises that live hundreds of years and Lonesome George, a land tortoise that is the last of his kind.

I'll post my pictures by day. If you want to come along for the ride, check back often! :)