Galapagos - Adventures of an English “Marine Aquarist”!

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Beautiful diary and pics. I actually did a paper in my last year of college about this island. Looks better than I imagined.
May have to place this on my bucket list!!
It’s a magical place, especially by boat because you will see much more by travelling to the different islands and locations

If you ever get chance just go. There are many pictures still to come as were only 3 days into the boat trip here, we will encounter large Marine Iguana colonies, sea lions families, Finches.........

I’ve written the journal this way, and at a slow pace, to maybe help everyone get a feel for what it was like
 

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On the 19th May 2019 we continued into the mangroves at Elizabeth Bay Galapagos, and came across some more of the local residents who proceeded to playfully swim around our boat.

The Galapagos Penguins

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I want to wade through a tropical mangrove. It's on the bucket list. I love how the penguins are everywhere!
 
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We had cruised during the night and on the morning of 20th May 2019 we were at Urbina Bay Galapagos. Home to Land Iguanas, Finches and Giant Turtles

At 0530 we left for shore in the inflatables, the landing was quiet ‘tricky’ due to the swell and a few of us got a little ‘moist’

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We had cruised during the night and on the morning of 20th May 2019 we were at Urbina Bay Galapagos. Home to Land Iguanas, Finches and Giant Turtles

At 0530 we left for shore in the inflatables, the landing was quiet ‘tricky’ due to the swell and a few of us got a little ‘moist’

193FB6B4-66E6-4CC0-9D7B-9B46FD795322.jpeg

Alright. I gotta ask. Where u one of the guys helping the boat, or running(wading) for dry land? ;Wacky
 
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Alright. I gotta ask. Where u one of the guys helping the boat, or running(wading) for dry land? ;Wacky
Lol!

I was taking the pictures so I was fine after scrambling out of the boat.

Actually I was supervising and recording the moment for them all! Lol
 
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We continued to walk around Urbina Bay and encountered our first Finch, sat on a tree. His friends were all scampering around the floor looking for seeds or whatever they eat

We then came across a turtle, that was rather ‘large’

Luiz, who was our National Park guide, is at the end with the baseball cap

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After leaving the giant turtles we came across a Land Iguana and also a Galapagos Mockingbird who proceeded to dance around our feet.....

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We walked back towards the shoreline and then waited for a few minutes for the inflatables to come and pick us up, and then we left Urbina Bay and headed back to the boat

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We left Urbina Bay late morning on 20th May 2019 and cruised our way towards Tagus Cove which is located on the westerns shores of Isabela Island Galapagos.

I sat on the back of the boat for most of the journey which was a few hours, watching the birds and scenery.

I was looking over the stern of the boat, and a huge Sunfish (Mola Mola or Mola Ramsayi) appeared out of the ocean and flopped over back into the water. It was one of those moments when you think like wow......

Here’s a few pictures of the journey to Tagus Cove and the actual cove itself. The final picture is the landing zone on the island were we would hike to Darwin’s Lake.

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Late afternoon on 20th May 2019 we boarded the inflatables and headed to the landing spot at Tagus Cove.

The rocks were we landed were a little slippery and having wobbled our way onto dry land we headed up the steps to a large area of rockwork engraved with markings from previous visitors from times gone by.

Then we headed towards Darwin’s Lake. This meant navigating up a path to get the best views of the lake, and by the time we got there the sun was starting to go down

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We left Darwin Lake in the early evening of 20th May 2019 and headed North towards Pinta Espinosa on Fernandina Island home to a vast colony of Marine Iguanas

We were sat in the dining room as the light faded, and the Captain shouted down for everyone to come up on deck as he had spotted something in the distance

He actually changed course and we headed towards the area were he had seen some activity

Now I didn’t get any pictures of this because it was nearly dark, with the moon shining on the sea, but as we sped along at full speed, in the distance we could see shiny shapes leaping from the water as they headed off on their journey. A school of dolphins were in the distance and all you could see were their shiny bodies in the moonlight as they jumped from the water.

We followed them for some time and at one point the boat was going around in circles as they dolphins changed course. Simply amazing........

At 0530 on 21st May 2019 we boarded the inflatables and headed to Pinta Espinosa landing point, which was basically the best rocky landing spot we could find. There are few man made landing zones here.

Then we came across ‘a few’ of the local inhabitants. The Marine Iguanas...

849B615D-4645-43FF-A1A6-7204168EB3BA.jpeg 9A9AB027-84B8-487A-875D-64D705923DA4.jpeg B0372E5D-B2D9-41A1-B76A-BB1E87B28B5C.jpeg 655912D2-45C2-4AF8-89C5-E5537533CC60.jpeg 74EE8F3C-F6E3-44C1-AE38-B0C0C3C1BE70.jpeg A17D44D7-02CD-42B1-9C7E-0882E31F3469.jpeg
 
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We left Darwin Lake in the early evening of 20th May 2019 and headed North towards Pinta Espinosa on Fernandina Island home to a vast colony of Marine Iguanas

We were sat in the dining room as the light faded, and the Captain shouted down for everyone to come up on deck as he had spotted something in the distance

He actually changed course and we headed towards the area were he had seen some activity

Now I didn’t get any pictures of this because it was nearly dark, with the moon shining on the sea, but as we sped along at full speed, in the distance we could see shiny shapes leaping from the water as they headed off on their journey. A school of dolphins were in the distance and all you could see were their shiny bodies in the moonlight as they jumped from the water.

We followed them for some time and at one point the boat was going around in circles as they dolphins changed course. Simply amazing........

At 0530 on 21st May 2019 we boarded the inflatables and headed to Pinta Espinosa landing point, which was basically the best rocky landing spot we could find. There are few man made landing zones here.

Then we came across ‘a few’ of the local inhabitants. The Marine Iguanas...

849B615D-4645-43FF-A1A6-7204168EB3BA.jpeg 9A9AB027-84B8-487A-875D-64D705923DA4.jpeg B0372E5D-B2D9-41A1-B76A-BB1E87B28B5C.jpeg 655912D2-45C2-4AF8-89C5-E5537533CC60.jpeg 74EE8F3C-F6E3-44C1-AE38-B0C0C3C1BE70.jpeg A17D44D7-02CD-42B1-9C7E-0882E31F3469.jpeg
That must have been a sight, moonlight dolphin breaching. Awesome.
 
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That must have been a sight, moonlight dolphin breaching. Awesome.
It was amazing, and also the fact we were at full speed racing through the waves was an incredible experience, unbelievable.......
 
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We continued to walk amongst the Marine Iguanas who pretty much ignored us completely

It’s still very early in the morning in these pictures as you can probably tell from the sunrise.

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It was morning of the 21st May 2019 and we continued to walk amongst the Marine Iguanas of Pinta Espinosa on Fernandina Island

As the sun started to rise in the sky, so did the Iguanas and they sort of lifted themselves up a little more to absorb the suns rays....

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Those are incredible images, Shaun! I really love iguanas.
You’ll see lots more as we wander around this island, amongst other animals.

The Marine Iguanas are very friendly and are kind of cute, as they look at you wondering what you are.....
 
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