Ecuador - The Galapagos

Keeping my blog up to date is sometimes quite challenging. Sometimes you simply have a very slow connection, sometimes the changes you have made don't get saved before the computer crashes or there is simply no Internet available at all. This was the case in the Galapagos and so I was not able t create any postings at all. The plan was to get my blog up to date during my visit over the Holidays in San Francisco, but for many reasons I was just not able to do more than post a couple of pictures. Actually quite a few .... Now twice my comments have been erase due to computer problems and here you are now witnessing my third attempt. I promise to save frequently. Like in just now. Simply enjoy the photos and I promise to provide more details later, although that might be after my return to San Francisco in 2007.

Giant turtle in the Darwin center of Santa Cruz Island. Here eggs are brought in from all the islands to breed the eggs and raise the young turtles for abut 5 years until they are big enough to survive on their own.

A Land Iguana hanging out in the sunshine, soaking up the warmth. I got really close in front of him to make this shot. Nice hairdo ....

A "sinkhole" we visited on Santa Cruz Island. Te flora down in the hole is endemic to the Galapagos.

A lava tunnel from the last eruption many million years ago. In these tunnels hot lava was flowing into the ocean. The sea water cooled down the exterior and created the tunnels which extended further and further into the ocean.

The harbor of Santa Cruz shortly before our departure.

Sea Lyons hanging out in the surf. It was amazing how close we could get to them, it would have been no problem to touch them.

A Sea Lyon cleaning itself after rolling around in the sand.

A Sea Lyon baby struggling in the rocks.

A mix between Land Iguana and Sea Iguana ...

A closer shot, this example was about 3 feet long.

Of course there has to be a "Kitsch" shot, it is not coming out as great as in the original photo, but it hopefully can describe the atmosphere.

More Sea Lyons .....

Sea Iguanas hanging out in the rocks, soaking up the sun. They actually spend many hours a day sun bathing to heat up their bodies before they go hunting in the ocean for more than an hour.

A light house on one f the islands.

A big group of Sea Iguanas sunbathing.

The Galapagos are all about boobies. I would have never thought to hear me say that I have seen enough boobies for the next 5 years .... Well, these are actually birds and here you see a "Blue Footed Booby" posing.

A "Masked Booby".

An old volcano covered in eerie lighting, in the foreground a lagoon where there were many Flamingos.

Flamingos feeding in the lagoon. More pictures once I have worked them in photoshop.

A "stop sign" not to enter the breeding area of the sea turtles.

The beautiful beach where we watched the sea turtles.

A big crab running around the rocks.

The same volcano crater as above with a beautiful beach in the foreground.

A mail box installed on one of the islands. In the past sailors who came by could drop their mail and pick up letters for their destination harbor. All letters would be hand delivered for free.

Another "Kitsch" photo of an island in the sun set.