Santa Cruz and North Seymour Islands
It’s so good to wake up early in the morning! It’s not easy though, but once we manage to open our eyes and get the first coffee, we feel with the energy to conquer the world. We did not come to Galápagos to conquer, however, but to be conquered by its innocent creatures, and today, giant tortoises stole our hearts. We walked down to a mud pool where we were hoping to find a few, and after a mile hike, we were amazingly surprised by at least 30 of these big sweet monsters in the mud, enjoying the early mist, slowly stretching their necks in a kind of morning exercise. There were so many that we had the privilege to spread out and sit next to our favorite ones, observe their features, their big eyes, the big carapace and their tremendous legs and feet, elephant like, that gave origin to their genus “Elephantopus.”
There was subtle light and a nice breeze. And as we had so much energy, we went right away for a walk into a lava tube. We walked inside a tunnel formed by molten rock flowing down hundreds, maybe even thousands of years ago. We saw little stalactites and stalagmites, and at the end of the tunnel, there was light and breakfast waiting for us.
In the afternoon, we visited North Seymour and became delighted with the view of male frigates with totally inflated pouches courting picky females. There were chicks and fledglings, swallow-tailed gulls and sea lions, land iguana males fighting and marine iguanas completely motionless enjoying their endless siestas.
We had so many and so different experiences today that it’s hard to think on something different for tomorrow, but Galápagos is an enchanted archipelago of many surprises.
It’s so good to wake up early in the morning! It’s not easy though, but once we manage to open our eyes and get the first coffee, we feel with the energy to conquer the world. We did not come to Galápagos to conquer, however, but to be conquered by its innocent creatures, and today, giant tortoises stole our hearts. We walked down to a mud pool where we were hoping to find a few, and after a mile hike, we were amazingly surprised by at least 30 of these big sweet monsters in the mud, enjoying the early mist, slowly stretching their necks in a kind of morning exercise. There were so many that we had the privilege to spread out and sit next to our favorite ones, observe their features, their big eyes, the big carapace and their tremendous legs and feet, elephant like, that gave origin to their genus “Elephantopus.”
There was subtle light and a nice breeze. And as we had so much energy, we went right away for a walk into a lava tube. We walked inside a tunnel formed by molten rock flowing down hundreds, maybe even thousands of years ago. We saw little stalactites and stalagmites, and at the end of the tunnel, there was light and breakfast waiting for us.
In the afternoon, we visited North Seymour and became delighted with the view of male frigates with totally inflated pouches courting picky females. There were chicks and fledglings, swallow-tailed gulls and sea lions, land iguana males fighting and marine iguanas completely motionless enjoying their endless siestas.
We had so many and so different experiences today that it’s hard to think on something different for tomorrow, but Galápagos is an enchanted archipelago of many surprises.
