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Planet of the sea lions? The beach at Gardner Bay on Isla Española was covered with sea lions. |
Three boys cavorting with three sea lions at Gardner Bay |
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| This was my first visit to the Galápagos but my wife, Sumi, had been here in 1986. She returned with her grandchildren (Trevor 13 and Nicole 16) so they too could experience the Islands. | |
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We had the beach at Gardner Bay all to ourselves to stroll on the white sand and spend time with the sea lions. |
A flamingo lagoon on Floreana. |
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It doesn't get much more primordial than this. A large turtle has left its mark on the beach as the mist gives way to the early morning equatorial light on Floreana. |
The Floreana beach was pockmarked with tracks and holes made by ghost crabs. |
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As we were getting ready to head back to the Andando a rainbow appeared that streached from the flamingo lagoon to the sea. |
The Andando waits for us off the coast of Floreana. We always took a small dinghy called a panga to reach the islands. Sometimes we were able to step onto land directly and at other times we had to wade through the water up to the beach. Wet and dry landings. |
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In addition to the islands, the Galápagos contains dozens of tiny islets made up of volcanic rock. This one off Floreana is called Devil's Crown. The Galápagos were never attached to the mainland but were born of volcanic fires deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. These islands and islets are tops of huge submarine volcanoes. The Galápagos Islands are one of the most active oceanic volcanic regions on earth.
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Post office barrel on Floreana. Whalers used to leave their letters here and they would be picked up by homebound ships and eventually delivered to their destination. In 1813, the U.S. Warship Essex came to the islands to destroy the British whaling fleet. The captain, David Porter, was successful in doing this with the help of intelligence gathered by reading mail left at the post office barrel. Today, people still leave postcards hoping they will be picked up and delivered by other travelers who live nearby. |
 A Scorpion |
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