Amazing Genovesa
The Search for HammerHead Sharks
after lunch, we got our snorkel gear and headed out to snorkel along the walls of the caldera ... in search of HammerHead Sharks. sharks, sharks, sharks, ... everyone wants to see sharks :)
i got in the water right behind Washington and was following him, when i spotted an Octopus ... this Octopus looked just like an Octopus should look ... with a bulbous head and 8 arms curled around it. i did the same thing i did when i saw the Octopus in Roatan; the thing i said i would never do again ... i looked up to tell Washington what i had found ..... he was gone ... and when i looked back down ... the current was pretty strong, i'd drifted, and i couldn't find the Octopus either. i searched and searched, with no luck. grrrrrrrrrrr :(
in my delay, i'd lost my group, and there were 2 other groups of snorkelers in the water as well. i caught up with one group and realized i didn't recognize anyone .. it's difficult when everyone is wearing a snorkel mask .... :(
i looked down to start to snorkel again, ... and saw 2 HammerHead Sharks pass under me .... and they were gone in a second .... :( ...this is a video that Washington took, but it's about what i saw ....
i started looking at the fish. it would be nice to see a HammerHead again, for a little longer ... but i REALLY do love the fishes :( ...i can't help it.
i saw several fishes from my book that i hadn't seen before; but got only a few photos. we were in kind of deep water, rough with a little current; and each time i dove down to take a photo, the fish would swim away from me :(
i did get this photo of a BumpHead ParrotFish ..... it was huge and unfortunately you can't see the beautiful markings on his head ... nor his namesake 'bump' on his head :(
and one of my favorites, a Heiroglyphic HogFish ...
other than that, i didn't get any photos, i decided to start taking video, sometimes that comes out better, since everything is moving anyway .... it wasn't good either, but the music is nice .... and it's fun putting video in here :)
we got back in the dingy, not an easy task with no ladder .... always glad to be in the company of strong men :) ..... and headed for another spot trying to find a HammerHead ... we saw the fin of one ... and jumped back in the water ... but it was gone ....
back at the boat, had lunch about 1pm, ... and then we got to 'rest' until 4pm .... i spent the time editing and deleting over 350 photos ..... :)
at 4pm we got back in the dingy and followed the caldera cliff and saw the Galapagos Fur Seal ..... he is so cute ...
he is shorter and 'fatter' than the Sea Lion; has long 'fur'; a shorter nose, and bear-like face ....
they are actually more like the Sea Lions than a Seal ... they have little external ears, and can also lift their bodies clearly off the ground. true 'seals' have no external ears and cannot lift themselves off the ground ... they have to drag themselves.
we then had a 'dry landing' .... meaning you do NOT get your feet wet :) .... and walked up the side of the cliff on some rock stairs.
at the top was a similar 'dating game center' as we saw this morning; with Great Frigit Birds ....
... a narrated video by Washington, ...
and also a few Red Footed Boobies ... another white one! ....
but clearly this particular place belonged to the Nazca Boobies ... there were hundreds of them ....
we saw this couple preening each other ......
and fuzzy chicks of all sizes ....
this large one had just been fed, but was still after it's mom for more ... i think she's saying 'get away from me' ...
this tiny baby ... with hardly any feathers ... and pitiful teeny wings in comparison to it's body ....
they were everywhere ...
sad truth: the Nazca Boobies lay 2 eggs that hatch about 5 days apart. if the first chick is healthy, it pushes the second chick out of the nest and it dies. the parents ignore this event. they can only raise one chick, by laying 2 eggs, the second egg is assurance that they will have one chick to raise if the first one is not healthy :(
here is a video of some of the Nazca Boobies and babies ... new born, and a large one that is being fed ...
the Yellow-Crowned Heron that i saw in Santa Cruz town ... seems more appropriate that he's here, instead of on the streets ....
as the sun set, the Giant Frigit Birds quieted down ...
with the Nazca Boobies everywhere under the setting sun ...
i saw this night-blooming 'morning' glory ... that's what i'm calling it :)....
the almost-full moon was already pretty high in the sky ...
the setting sun lit up the sky as we rode in our dingy towards the boat ...
returned to our boat and had dinner ... we had steak !!!!!!!! WoW ... what a treat ! the food has been very good ... different, but very good .... for lunch we had steamed red cabbage that was sweet and had a strong cinnamon flavor with cinnamon sticks .... very different, i really liked it ... probably because it was so sweet :)
at our evening briefing, Washington asked who might be interested in an off-the-itinerary early morning trip to Bartolome Island, ....and maybe see a Turtle laying her eggs ..... everyone was 'in' immediately. so we'll leave the boat at 5:45am tomorrow morning
we also learned more about the origin and development of the Galapagos Islands ... i knew they grew from underwater volcanoes originating from a certain 'hot spot' ... but i didn't realize that as the plates are shifting, so are the islands ..... they are moving Eastward .... 1-2" per year! ...that seems very significant to me! ... they grow older, flatten, and disappear, falling into the deep sea stretching to the mainland. San Cristobal, the oldest of the islands, has moved 700 miles eastward from the 'hot spot', which is now at Fernandino ... with Santa Cruz and Isabella in between. at some point, San Cristobal will be no more ... but another island will form west of Fernandino. i saw a program this fall about the identical progression occuring on the Hawaiian Island chain.
i probably didn't explain that very well :( ..... if you are interested, check out the BBC DVD special on the Galapagos .....
a wonderful day that will be hard to top !
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