Isabela Island
Today we started the day with a Zodiac ride along the volcano called Ecuador. We encountered a variety of marine animals such as penguins, sea lions, blue-footed boobies, flightless cormorants, dolphins, whales, and also marine turtles. The turtles came so close to the boats that we decided that it would be a good spot to swim with them. So, we returned to the ship to grab our snorkel equipment.
The marine turtles that come to the Galapagos Islands are the green Pacific marine turtle {Chelonia mydas agassisi), which is the only species resident in the islands. They come this time of year to the Galapagos Islands to lay their eggs on the beach, and they can lay more than a hundred eggs every time they come ashore. The lives of the marine turtles are very interesting because after they spend months in the waters of Galapagos, they migrate out to the open ocean more than a thousand miles away from here. Some individuals marked in the islands have been recaptured off the coast of Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and also Costa Rica! They usually return to the same island in the Galapagos, to the same beach, to lay their eggs once again. It is amazing. Some of the female hatchlings that survive, come back at the age of about twenty or thirty years old, to lay their eggs in the beach where they were born. The life of the marine turtles has a lot of mysteries that we do not understand yet. Today we had the great opportunity to snorkel with them.
Today we started the day with a Zodiac ride along the volcano called Ecuador. We encountered a variety of marine animals such as penguins, sea lions, blue-footed boobies, flightless cormorants, dolphins, whales, and also marine turtles. The turtles came so close to the boats that we decided that it would be a good spot to swim with them. So, we returned to the ship to grab our snorkel equipment.
The marine turtles that come to the Galapagos Islands are the green Pacific marine turtle {Chelonia mydas agassisi), which is the only species resident in the islands. They come this time of year to the Galapagos Islands to lay their eggs on the beach, and they can lay more than a hundred eggs every time they come ashore. The lives of the marine turtles are very interesting because after they spend months in the waters of Galapagos, they migrate out to the open ocean more than a thousand miles away from here. Some individuals marked in the islands have been recaptured off the coast of Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and also Costa Rica! They usually return to the same island in the Galapagos, to the same beach, to lay their eggs once again. It is amazing. Some of the female hatchlings that survive, come back at the age of about twenty or thirty years old, to lay their eggs in the beach where they were born. The life of the marine turtles has a lot of mysteries that we do not understand yet. Today we had the great opportunity to snorkel with them.
