Floreana Island
What a day! What a day! What a day! We did and got to see so much. It’s been just amazing. We went to the Post Office Barrel early this morning and got to learn about Galapagos human history. Had a great boat ride where we saw different kinds of critters like sea lions, marine turtles and even a penguin. Then we started our water activities like snorkeling and glass-bottom boating, with loads of fishes and some other marine life. Some of us also got to see the rare “Charlie” Mockingbird. All that fun worked up an appetite so when they served up the typical Ecuadorian lunch, we were ready for it. Right after lunch, bottlenose dolphins showed up, not a few, but hundreds of them. We took off in the Zodiacs and ended up being surrounded by these wonderful creatures. Finally, the really nice stroll in the afternoon with those flamingos made a special ending to the day.
There were so many highlights in the day that it was difficult to choose a picture amongst them. I chose this baby ‘cause it was such a big ole thing. It took my breath away and probably everybody else’s too. So here it is and one or two things ‘bout our friend the manta ray!
Manta rays (in Spanish manta raya) belong to the family Mobulidae and their scientific name is Manta hamiltoni. They have wingspans of up to 22 feet! Ours was about half that. While the one we saw (fortunately for us) was about six feet down, these “devil fish” will go down past a hundred. Rays are flattened cousins of sharks, and while some species will feed on small fish and crustaceans, this gentle giant is a filter feeder. With its big mouth it takes in thousands of plank tonic organisms at a time. It could have been doing that when we saw it or it could have been receiving a cleaning by some of the reef fish along the rocks. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
What a day! What a day! What a day! We did and got to see so much. It’s been just amazing. We went to the Post Office Barrel early this morning and got to learn about Galapagos human history. Had a great boat ride where we saw different kinds of critters like sea lions, marine turtles and even a penguin. Then we started our water activities like snorkeling and glass-bottom boating, with loads of fishes and some other marine life. Some of us also got to see the rare “Charlie” Mockingbird. All that fun worked up an appetite so when they served up the typical Ecuadorian lunch, we were ready for it. Right after lunch, bottlenose dolphins showed up, not a few, but hundreds of them. We took off in the Zodiacs and ended up being surrounded by these wonderful creatures. Finally, the really nice stroll in the afternoon with those flamingos made a special ending to the day.
There were so many highlights in the day that it was difficult to choose a picture amongst them. I chose this baby ‘cause it was such a big ole thing. It took my breath away and probably everybody else’s too. So here it is and one or two things ‘bout our friend the manta ray!
Manta rays (in Spanish manta raya) belong to the family Mobulidae and their scientific name is Manta hamiltoni. They have wingspans of up to 22 feet! Ours was about half that. While the one we saw (fortunately for us) was about six feet down, these “devil fish” will go down past a hundred. Rays are flattened cousins of sharks, and while some species will feed on small fish and crustaceans, this gentle giant is a filter feeder. With its big mouth it takes in thousands of plank tonic organisms at a time. It could have been doing that when we saw it or it could have been receiving a cleaning by some of the reef fish along the rocks. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
