Pictures from our fifth day on the Galápagos islands.
Cormorant Point
We arrived early, hoping to see some sea turtles laying their eggs
Punta Cormorán
This is the beach on the eastern side. Where are the turtles?
Black and green
A surprisingly beautiful colour combo.
No turtles
As you can see, we were too late. The turtles had already left.
Grapsus grapsus
Come on, you have to admit that this is the best name.
Second stop: Flamingoes
Where are the flamingoes? At the far end of the bay.
Phoenicopterus ruber
American flamingo, at Punta Cormorán
Flamingoes
Reflected in Cormorant Bay
American flamingo
They eat tiny crustaceans which they filter from the mud
Stingrays at Cormorant Bay
Don't lift your feet near them or you'll step on them. Shuffle your feet at all times.
Surprise visitors: I'm guessing tursiops truncatus
Looks like common bottlenose dolphins to me.
Dolphins like to follow boats
Boats full of tourists also like to follow dolphins
Dolphins
Mother and child
IMG_4315_Delfin_mit_Jungem.jpg
Giant tortoise retreat in Floreana
Up here the weather is rainy
Rain jacket time!
Further up the islands are green.
Up here is where the German settlers lived
Read up on the Galapagos affair! Love & madness. Narcissism and possibly murder.
Clouds and rainforest
The native trees all belong to the Scalesia family. That would be S. pedunculata, on Floreana.
Epiphytes everwhere
The wet climate lets plants grow everywhere, including on top of other plants.
Tillandsia everywhere
Bromeliaceae often grow anywhere, including on bare rocks.
The plant life is supported by a lot of water
As the the warm air from the ocean's surface is pushed up the hill sides, it cools, and clouds form.
Clouds bring water to these hills
Every 100m is a different climate zone, basically.
Alex & Claudia
Thor Heyerdahl organized and led an archaeological expedition to the Galápagos Islands in 1953.
A few foot paths along the top of Floreana island
To think that naked Dr. Friedrich Richter and Dore Strauss lived here with a donkey.
Triaenodon obesus
We saw more than a dozen white tipped reef sharks at Devil's Crown (picture by another passanger)
White tipped reef shark
Why did I give away my GoPro camera all these years ago? Picture by somebody else.
