Galapagos Trip - 2

Hi, This post will cover August 10th and 11th.

This was the view of part of the city and the surrounding Andes Mountains when we woke up on August 10.

We spent the day traveling to Baltra in the Galapagos Islands where we boarded our ship the Celebrity Expedition.  The ship has a capacity of 98 passengers.  In the Galapagos wildlife viewing groups are limited to fewer than 100 persons.

We set sail about 4:00 PM and circumnavigated Daphne Island before setting out for our first destination: Espanola Island.

While we sailed around Daphne Island Great Frigate Birds (a male is shown above) and

a Waved Albatross circled overhead.

Because I did not feel well on August 1th I remained on the ship.  The next two photos were taken by Ruthe.  Whenever we left or boarded the ship we traveled on these Zodiacs.

Ruthe did not go ashore on this day.  She took this photo during a short Zodiac ride.

Starting with the photo above of Ryan, a mother sea lion and her pup the remaining photos were taken by our son in law Bill.

Lava Lizards were very common.

Here is a Mocking Bird.

Scott and sea lions.  It was easy to get very close although we were warned to stay back at least eight feet.

This is an American Oyster Catcher.

A pair of Galapagos Hawks are tending to a chick.  One has killed a lizard.

This is an Albatross chick.

Albatross mate for life.  They go to sea to feed for most of the year and only return to land to have and rear chicks.  When they arrive on land and find each other the pair will go through a "dance" ritual to reacquaint.

This Blue Footed Booby is guarding a nest with eggs.  Other types of Booby are Nazca and Red Footed.  Thanks for looking.