Galapagos (2)

The next couple of days were spent aboard the Legend, hopping off the boat morning and afternoon to visit various islands. The staff had offered to babysit for Leo if we preferred to leave him aboard, and as they provided a formal service we agreed for the wet landings and gave ourselves the opportunity to do a bit of snorkelling. Highlights included Espaniola island, the island furthest east of the archipelago which was home to sea lions, blue footed boobies, nesting albatrosses, iguanas and the islands' main predator, the Galapagos hawk. On Floreana we had the opportunity to see flamingoes and go snorkelling- the promise of swimming with sea lions was not to be fulfilled with a solitary one torpedoing off before Ari could reach it, but seeing a sea turtle at very close quarters was a wonderful experience. Hopefully the photos show a little of what we saw, and due to popular demand I include the infamous blue footed booby... We also visited a giant tortoise sanctuary where the Ecuadorians are attempting to preserve and boost the population, depleted almost to extinction by years of being preyed on by man, by species' introduced by man to the island, or by competition for food by species' introduced by man. Troublesome lot aren't we? On our last day we had another chance to go snorkelling and Ari saw a sea lion swimming underwater. He still remains on his quest to find more..