Hi all,
I can´t believe this wonderful adventure is almost over. Tomorrow morning we drive across Santa Cruz Island for a short ferry ride to Baltra to the airport. It seems like a long time ago that we stood at the airport and got our first look at the Islands, but I would be glad to stay longer.
Today we went to North Seymour Island and walked by Blue Footed Boobies with baby boobies! The chicks are fluffy white, and older ones are grey. We also saw male land iguanas and believe me they look muy macho! They are beautiful big animals in shades of yellows and orange and black. The females are much smaller, and not as colorful. There were also frigate birds nesting in small trees. The males puff out a large red pouch to impress the ladies. The chicks were also fluffy, but white and black. This is the dry season here, so the trees did not have leaves, giving the island a ghostly appearence.
After jumping back onto the panga off some rocks to get off the island, we were treated to a great lunch on the boat then went snorkeling to a beautiful white sandy beach from the boat. There were alot of sea cucumbers, Mexican hogfish, and another large school of yellow tailed surgeon fish on the snorkel from the boat to the beach. Right around the boat were big puffer fish. We went to the beach area instead of near Seymour Island because there were four Galapagos sharks swimming right around the boat when we returned from the island.
We just had our final dinner together as a group. This is the best class I have ever taken. For those of you who know Matt Covill, the professor for this class, Kevin Bonine, could be Matt´s brother. They look similar and have similar personalities, levels of energy and enthusiasm, and they are both into lizards. I know, I know, lizards you are asking? Why lizards? Well it takes all kinds in Biology, and I guess there is room in biology for lizard people as well as bird people. After all, I suspect the lizard people may just be bird people with feather envy. :)
Tomorrow we fly to the mainland and then have a very late flight out to Houston. The adventure is coming to an end for now.
Connie
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