Bartolome and Santiago Islands
Santiago Island was crowded with marine iguanas this afternoon. This is one of my favourite species and a very representative animal of the Galápagos. They are the only sea going lizards in the whole world, herbivores of the sea, feeding on green algae that grow on the volcanic rocks of the Islands. They are only found in this unique archipelago, and from one ancestor they diverged into seven different subspecies. Short snouts, tricuspid teeth, long and sharp claws, it may not sound pretty, but they are indeed very special and attractive. We also saw Galápagos sea lions and several Galápagos fur seals, and a few shore birds and land birds.
If I went back to the morning, the list of sightings would increase. We started with a walk through geology, as we saw spatter cones, cinder cones, lava tubes, and tuff cones. In summary, we saw all the possible geological features of Galápagos. Snorkeling in the morning we found penguins, sharks, colourful fish, swimming iguanas and sea lions. It seems that we have been in Galápagos forever, and it is only the first complete day of this trip.
Santiago Island was crowded with marine iguanas this afternoon. This is one of my favourite species and a very representative animal of the Galápagos. They are the only sea going lizards in the whole world, herbivores of the sea, feeding on green algae that grow on the volcanic rocks of the Islands. They are only found in this unique archipelago, and from one ancestor they diverged into seven different subspecies. Short snouts, tricuspid teeth, long and sharp claws, it may not sound pretty, but they are indeed very special and attractive. We also saw Galápagos sea lions and several Galápagos fur seals, and a few shore birds and land birds.
If I went back to the morning, the list of sightings would increase. We started with a walk through geology, as we saw spatter cones, cinder cones, lava tubes, and tuff cones. In summary, we saw all the possible geological features of Galápagos. Snorkeling in the morning we found penguins, sharks, colourful fish, swimming iguanas and sea lions. It seems that we have been in Galápagos forever, and it is only the first complete day of this trip.
