Pictures from our ninth day on the Galápagos islands.
Sunrise
Typical remains of volcanoes.
Early morning on the ship
Claudia & Alex, checking out the sun deck
A huge shark is circling the boat
The Galápagos shark can reach up to 3m in length.
Sea lions resting
Red rock crab and a marine iguana
Chinese Hat
Along the south-eastern coast of Santiago.
The strip of water separating Sombrero Chino from Santiago Island
Sadly, no pictures from the snorkeling!
Red rock crabs everywhere
Grapsus grapsus
Red rock crab, or Sally Lightfoot crab. They can leap and are hard to catch, apparently.
Alex
Sombrero Chino
Lava tubes
The surface cools and solidifies, insulating the molten lava below that keeps flowing until it drains away, leaving nothing but these tunnels.
Marine iguanas
Their main problem when diving for food is their body temperature. Basking in the sun is super important.
Alex
On the captain's bridge
Alex
On the bow of the catamaran
Claudia
Sea lion
The coast of Mosquera Islet
No swimming, said our guide. Too mean baby sea lions and surf make for perfect shark hunting grounds.
Sea lion basking in the sun
And relaxing their neck muscles
Sea lion eyeing our stuff
Sea lion playing with plastic garbage
Yes, there's plenty of garbage in the ocean around Galápagos.
Look at those teeth!
Sea lion mother and baby, relaxing
Marine iguanas, basking in the sun
Look at those salty faces
They excrete salt by sneezing a very salty liquid from their nostrils. When it dries on their comrades' faces, a white salt crust remains.
Carpenter bee
Big and black, and always moving. I must have taken two dozen pictures or more.
Sea lions, relaxing
Sea lions have (small) ear flaps
Our boat
Oyster catchers
More sea lions
Lava lizard inspecting a sea lion
I guess they eat the flies so the sea lions don't mind as much?
Yawning sea lion
Alex
The sun is setting already
Marine iguanas
Huddling on warm stones, soaking in the evening sun
The face of a marine iguana
Another marine iquana staring at the sun
Looking at you.
Sunset
Full moon!
Awoooooooo!!
