Back to Blogging - More details of the trip!

Hi to anyone still checking this out!

I have sorted out some issues with uploading my video - although I have still spent several hours tonight trying to find out why it still has trouble.\

Despite that I am solidering on - I won't give in.

Below is a test - it's night two in Santiago and I'm convinced that we've slept through a whole day! My watch was doing something weird and I couldn't account for an entire day!

It was not funny at the time - I thought we'd missed our flight to Equador!

If this works - I'm still waiting for Blogger to process the video - I should be able to upload some more interesting stuff from our trip to the Galapagos Islands!

Thursday 29 May 2008 - Rabida Island

The afternoon excursion took us to the island of Rabida which is the 11th biggest island in the archipelago, but still only about 2 square miles in area!

It's composition is largely scoria, created by explosive eruptions when hot lava meets sea water.

Scoria has high levels of iron that gives it a red color and the island's coast is characterised by tall red cliffs and a red beach.

The single volcano that resulted in the island's formation is extinct. A small lagoon behind salt bush that line the beach is one of the best places to see flamingos. Unfortunately there were none to be seen today.

While waiting to go ashore a few of us were treated by the sight of a sea turtle which swam up to our boat then dived deep beneath! Just a tantalising taste of the wild life we would encounter over the next week.

Ashore we could also see a few sea lions frolicking on the beach and in the surf.

After a short walk to where the flamingos should have been, we returned to the beach where we had left our snorkelling gear. We were greated by a rare sight - a Galapagos Eagle, perched just out of reach....

A really spectacular bird, with no apparent fear of humans being so close - something that we would learn was common among the inhabitants of these islands!

A short walk along the beach bought us to a Pelican colony and a group of playful fur seals, but the real surprise lay beneath the waves.

Our first snorkelling adventure for this trip would reveal an amazing array of beautiful tropical fish, in numbers so vast that it was impossible to no which way to look, especially when you had found yourself right in the middle of a whole cloud of fish!! King Angel Fish, Yellow Tails, Blue Chin Parrot Fish, Rainbow Wrasse, Streamer Hogfish, Black Tip Cardinal Fish! The variety was just amazing!

Fears about the depth of water which had increased rapidly only metres from the shore, or the prospects of sharks or any other danger were quickly forgotten!

The Galapagos was living up to its reputation as a haven for a vast array of wild life and sea creatures!

Thursday 29 May 2008 - Cerro Dragon, Santa Cruz

Our first landing was at a place called Cerro Dragon on the North West coast of Sant Cruz.

This place is so named because it is populated by a large number of land iguanas. However, there weren't many to be seen on this trip! We saw their dens and a great many wasps, one of which stung John and a very unhappy young lady in our group!

My highlight for this outing was seeing my first Marine Iguana.
These pre-historic looking animals really captured my imagination. They spend the mornings absorbing the warmth of the sun through their jet black scales then foraging for sub-marine algae the rest of the day. These little creatures have evolved the ability to dive under water in search of coastal algae which is their sole source of food. Changing ocean temperatures and tidal fluctations which affect the growth of the algae as well as oil spills have had dramatic impact on marine igauana populations in the last 10 years.

The landscape on this part of the island reminded us very much of the bushland of Australia. Hot and dry at this time of the year and the soild bright red, we could easily have been in Central Australia.

After a morning here, we re-joined our vessel and headed to our next site of interest, Rabida Island.