The Story of our trip to Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador & Galapagos Trip 31.7 to 15.8.10

[caramelo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The village had activity, and my attention was caught with its amusing cable system!

 

 

 

We returned to the dock

 

 

[caramelo]

 

I found it funny to see these two sea lions sleeping and playing in a wooden boat and there were also some on the steps where we had to go down to the bo at at about 11:30 am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

At 1:30pm there was a meeting to try and choose the snorkelling equipment, wetsuit, mask, fins and snorkel and a big bag to put everything into.

 

 

At 2:30pm there was also a talk explaining the basics of snorkeling for those who had no experience which was our case.

 

At 3:30pm we returned ashore on the Española Island, one of our favorite islands of the whole trip.

 

 

This island is 14km long and7km wide and has 61km2 and a maximum height of 206m.

 

 

We landed at Punta Suarez in the extreme west of Española and a 2km-long walk through a stone path was awaiting us.

Inmediately when we arrived we saw some Iguanas.

These Galapagos animals are found throughout the archipelago on the shorelines. Their size and quantity is very variable and in somec ases can be found colonies of up to 3,000 per mile of coastline.

The Galapagos marine iguana feeds almost entirely on algae only found on the banks or under the sea surface. The algae which they eat are red or green. The brown algae is not part of the diet of marine iguanas as this range will cause indigestion.

The smallest marine iguana is found in the Genovesa Island and the largest live on Fernandina and Isabela Islands.

The Española island where we are today have the most colorful iguanas. These iguanas have green and red spots. The red pigment comes from an algae that blooms during the warm months, which also coincide with the period of mating iguanas.

The Galapagos marine iguana eats once a day, but the larger ones eat only every 2 or three days.

The daily activity of the iguanas depends or is determined by the temperature and state of the tide.

The large males often take advantage of the midday when the sun is warmer to warm up and then plunge into the sea for food.

The rest of iguanas wait until the tide goes out to feed on the shores of beaches.

The Galapagos marine iguanas have incredible swimming abilities. Their tails are flattened and they swim by lateral undulation of their bodies, with their limbs held to the side. Their claws are long and sharp in comparison to the Galapagos land iguana that enables them to cling to rocks along the shore, and resist being pulled away by heavy waves.

They can spend only a limited time in the cold sea, where it dives for algae. However, by swimming only in the shallow waters around the Island they are able to survive single dives of up to half an hour at depths of more than 15 mts.

After these dives, they return to their territory to bask in the sun and warm up again.

You think that the marine iguanas are spitting but they are actually only clearing the and and getting rid of the particles of salt which accumulate in their noses.

Upon arrival we saw some marine iguanas of the redc olor variation only found on this island. They were relatively small in size but were always in groups of many together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

 

And the iguanas along with the sea lion:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And with the blue-footed booby:

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

We had to be careful not to step on them as they were everywhere:

 

 

 

 

 

Again there were the Sally Lightfoot Crabs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And in a big group:

 

 

Then we saw some boobies. The male and female flirting! During courtship, the couple dance with a perfectly timed movement, showing off their coloured feet. To demonstrate his power, the male arches his wings projecting his chest and head upwards, at the same time offering his partner the material to make the nest. The two boobies, facing each other,make small steps, as if it were a dance.

 

 

 

 

And with the baby:

 

[caramelo]

This baby looks like it´s wearing a crash helmet, hahaha:

 

 

 

 

And now is the courting dance:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a look at this video (it´s not mine, but taken from Internet, but just to give you the idea):

 

 

 

 

The nazca boobies were known before as masked boobies. These birds are white with brown wings and unlike the blue-footed boobies have a fixed mating season with one peculiar situation: sibling murder. Siblicide is not uncommon in avian life. In fact, herons, cranes, and even egrets perform it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

We saw a Galapagos Lava Lizard which are the most abundant reptiles of the Galapagos. Likemany animals in Galapagos they have no fear of the presence of humans and they can be easily observed at short distances. Lavalizards can be found in al lthe main islands of Galapagos. Its length is 17 to25 cm, with males two o rthree times larger than females. Physical characteristics are similar to those of other species of lizards. Males are dark with yellow-green spots, while females are reddish brown with no markings, although they may also have red patches when they reach maturity during the breeding seasons.

 

 

 

 

And a hawk:

 

 

 

 

The waved albatros is the only family member of the Diomedeidae living in the tropics. There only breeding place is on the Española island of the Galapagos Islands. The nests are built in areas of lava. The main sources of food for the albatross are fish, squid and crustaceans.

To feed, these albatrosses follow routes straight to one place off the coast of Peru, about 1000km east of their breeding. During the periods when not breeding, these birds live mainly off Peru and Ecuador

The population of these albatrosses is protected by the staff of the Galapagos National Park but are vulnerable because of illegal fishing and tourism.

The albatrosses are seabirds by excellence and spend most of their life at sea, flying sometimes hundreds of miles a day. The waved albatross breeds on theGalapagos Islands and spend the rest of the year off the coast of Peru.

They have a wingspan of 240cm from one point to the other tip of the wing. It differs from other albatrosses by its bright yellow beak and ivory neck. It has a white head and gray body with clear striations.

First we saw theAlbatross baby:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then the mother with the baby:

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

And other adults:

 

 

 

 

 

And their courtship seems very similar to that of the blue foot boobies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw this bird who managed to catch a crab, then he dropped it and then he caught it again:

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

Here at Suarez Point we could also see the spectacular geyser-like blowhole shooting a thunderous spray 30 yards into the air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to the ship around 6pm very happy with the day that we had enjoyed.

As we were having our usual evening aperitive, we saw how they raised up the zodiac boats to put them away until the next day.

 

 

 

 

 

We just had time to shower, go to the chat about the next day's activities, and then have a nice quiet dinner remembering all that we had seen and sharing our experiences with the other 4 people sharing the same table for dinner.

TO BE CONTINUED……… ON FLOREANA ISLAND.

[caramelo]

PS: Thanks Jim & Mary Ellen, gald also that you are enjoying the travelogue

[caramelo]

sorry.......... I meant "glad" and not "gald"!!!!! :)

[Lard Greystoke]

It is characteristic of the males to whistle while the females cry.

 

 

This is true of all males.

[caramelo]

hihihi Lard Greystoke! :D

[LucyDiamond]

caramelo - Thank you so much for the wonderful travelogue! We're going to the Galapagos and Machu Picchu with Celebrity in May. After reading your travelogue I'm even more excited about the trip!

[andawayigo]

This has got to be one of the best trip reports I have ever seen. Thanks so much for taking the time.

[caramelo]

Thanks for your nice comments andawayigo & Lucy Diamond and glad you´re enjoying it. I will now add the next part.........

[caramelo]

Tuesday 10th of August, Floreana Island

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the panga boat we saw a sea lion jumping out of the water like a dolphin:

 

These were the first images arriving at the island:

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

 

 

We found another boat moored near to ours and close to the island:

 

 

 

 

Coming closer we had to laugh to see it was the Coral I, the ship that our friends from Malta were traveling on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was the first day we did a wet landing.

In a dry landing, passengers will step directly on rocks or a dock and a wet landing, passengers will set foot into the water on the shores of the beach with the help of the naturalists and crew.

This was the beach where we landed:

 

 

[caramelo]

There was a sea lion on the beach waiting to welcome us:

 

 

 

 

 

The place of our visit Punta Cormorant is on the north coast of Floreana Island. The trail is an approximate distance of 720 meters, the same passes by a lagoon, observation points and a medium fine sandbeach.

The island has an area of 173 km2 and its maximum height is 550 meters above sea level. Its name is to honor the first president of Ecuador, Juan José Flores. This island is also known by the name of Santa Maria indistinction to one of the ships of Christopher Columbus. It is the smallest island of the Archipelago de Colon (Galapagos Islands), and has about 150 inhabitants and is one of the four inhabited islands in Galapagos, but because of their legends it is the most famous of all the islands and achieved great notoriety because of the mysterious disappearances, deaths and poisonings in the beginning of the 20th centuary.

The Wittmer Hotel was functioning in the populated port area of Velasco Ibarra on the Floreana Island. During the years 1930 with the arrival of several European immigrants misterioros events occurred.

In 1926 a Norwegian fishing factory was installed on the island, and soon after Dr. Friedrich Ritterand his partner Dore Strauch arrived at the same place.

In 1932 The Wittmer family from Germany, with Heinz, Margret and her son Harry arrived, which finally broke the solitude.

In 1934 came a flamboyant Austrian named Eloise Baroness Wagner-Bosquet and her two lovers Rudi Lorenz y Robert Philipson.

One day, Eloisa mentioned to the Wittmers that she was thinking of leaving the island and travelling toTahiti with her favorite lover, Philipson. But nobody ever saw them leave Floreana. Today, there are speculations about her disappearance and the truth has never been discovered.

Rudi Lorenz sold all the possessions of the Baroness to the Wittmer and embarked on a boat but was shipwrecked and died of thirst in Marchena Island.

Four days later, Dr. Ritter became ill from eating poisoned meat, something inexplicable because he was a vegetarian. After the death of Mr. Ritter, Dore left Santa Maria. The Wittmer family remained on the island.

The Wittmer family and their descendants: the Cruz family, Zavala and other families of the first inhabitants of the island continue to live in Floreana.

We walked until we reached the lagoon where you can usually find a large population of flamingos, but at the timeof year we went we were lucky to see a single flamingo, one better than none!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next photo did not come out very well and it looks far away and blurry, but we saw a flamingo flying........and I had never seen one fly but only on had seen then on the ground:

 

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

And now he landed and was on the ground but far away:

 

 

 

 

There were plenty of "paper wasps" on the island (in the tropics and subtropics there are about1,100 species but in Europe there are only 9 species).

We continued until we reached a beautiful white sand beach and dunes. Inmediately entering the water we could see the turtles.

But I have no photos because we had made a big mistake ... ..... when we heard that it was a wet landing well we took special watershoes, but when we were on dry land then we dried our feet and changed back into our normal shoes and socks..............but now on the beach, these normal shoes were not appropriate because to see the turtles we needed to enter the water, so I quickly changed to taking off my shoes / socks and turned up my hems of my trousers to my knees to get into the water, but of course.....and I was too heavily loaded with shoes in one hand with my bag, the camera, etc...... and when we finally got into the water the turtles were gone.

This was the beach and some of the many birds we saw:

 

 

 

 

 

 

A brown pelican:

 

 

 

The brown pelicans are instantly recognizable by their large size and huge pouched bill. They are usually brown, but during their breeding season have bright white and brown markings around his head.

Other birds:

 

 

[caramelo]

 

 

And again the Sally Lightfoot Crabs:

 

 

 

 

 

It was very funny to watch them eating, using their feet or claws, using first the left then the right and so on:

 

 

 

 

Then we had an hour to do snorkling.

Near Punta Cormorant is the Devil's Crown which is a half-submerged volcanic cone with beautiful coral formations.

 

 

We didn´t go out very far and stayed near the landing area on the map which is the area where it says "landing" and is to the right side of the landing area.

 

 

 

[caramelo]

The water was cold but with the wetsuit one was warm enough. It was the first time that we tried and we saw that it could be something very nice but for some reason, whether by mistake due to our lack of knowledge or due to the equipment with the wrong mask / snorkle that was not the best, we just have swallowed gallons of water. On one side it was very nice because we found a large green turtle bathing with us but on the other side we kept having to come up to the surface to breath fresh air!! (After we returned we learned that the main problem was that the masks and snorkels were not very good or the right sizes for us).

The green turtle is a large sea turtle. The species which is an endangered species,is distributed throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific. They are green because they have fat under its shell. I did not get to take photos... .... but I will put a couple of photos that are not mine but from other passengers and the ship personnel to give you an idea of the image of them bathing amongst us:

 

 

 

 

Finished our snorkeling, we were drying ourselves and changing clothes, removing the wetsuit for dry clothes, when again we met our friends from Malta, which as I said before they were in the Coral I ship, and they were coming on to the island when we were leaving. Again a big coincidence!

We left the island and the sea lion came to say goodbye to us on the beach:

 

We left the island behind us:

 

 

[caramelo]

We arrived on board around 11 am and saw that we had a new passenger... ... ...another sealion sleeping on our boat, in the next photo, on the left hand side at the bottom:

 

 

 

 

 

 

As an anecdote, we managed all day to avoid the paper wasps, but it seems that on the beach, attracted by the boat´s yellow towels, one got into my bag... ... ...and where in the morning I had no problem........but on returning to our cabin I noticed a sharp pain in the back of my neck ......I had been stung and it was sore, but fortunately unlike some other passengers I didn´t have any allergic reaction to the sting. Luckily my husband managed to find and "eliminate " the wasp as I couldn´t remain relaxed thinking that it was in the cabin with us!

After lunch, at 3:30pm we had a ride on the zodiac dinghy looking for turtles and we also saw some rays.

On the way we also passed another boat, the Galápagos Legend:

 

 

 

This was the area where we concentrated our search:

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

First we saw a blue-footed booby. In the following photo you can see our panga boat in the bottom left hand side and people looking at the rocks and into the water in case they could see something:

 

 

 

 

There were some sea-lions in the water:

 

 

 

Afterwards we found some few spotted eagle rays which is a group of cartilaginous fish of the family Myliobatidae, mostly large species living in the open ocean and not at the bottom of the sea.

The eagle rays feed on mollusks and crustaceans, crushing their shells with their filed teeth, while the bay devil and ray manta filters plankton from thewater. They are excellent swimmers and are able to penetrate the water up to several meters above the surface.

Compared with other rays, they have long tails and well-defined bodies. They are ovoviviparous, birthing maximum six offspring simultaneously. Ranging from 48 cm to 9.1 in length. They were very difficult to photograph... ... ...just look for the black coloured fish under the water.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally we found a seaturtle, the photos are not good and you have to use a little imagination to see the turtle under water.

 

 

[caramelo]

Now you can see him better because he has put his head out of the water:

 

 

After the zodiac ride we went ashore.

Again we had a wet landing to the north of the island.

We climbed to the observation point of the Baroness, named in honor of the eccentric Baroness who I mentioned earlier,who arrived to Floreana in the mid 30's and disappeared mysteriously with one of her three lovers. Baroness Eloisa von Wagner liked this place where she spent hours of her time and where she knew of all the vessels approaching the island. Only a short distance away (30 m) are the ruins of what is knownas the House of the Baroness.

The ascent of the trail is fairly easy, except for the last 33m where the slope is steep, however, steps have been implemented in this sector.

In the following photo you have to look just above the hill where you can see people -us, but as it is quite far away maybe you can not see it properly. Well this point on the top is the observation point:

 

 

This site is especially attractive for its stunning beauty. From the viewpoint, the landscape includes the coastline from the Enderby island to the Post Office Bay, as well as Cerro Pajas, the pool of flamingos(Punta Cormorant), the upper area and a rose wood forest.

These are the views from above - I loved the colour of the sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And our ship and two other ones in the background: