Ms. Caine's South America Adventures

Galapagos Islands!

August 4th

Okay...so the wi-fi connection here is really slow! It's taken me about 40 minutes to upload these few pictures! :) So...I'll just include some information about our visit and post more pics when I get to Santiago on Saturday.

Galapagos Islands!!! Today we visited North Seymour and Bacchus Islands. We set sail on our boat around 8:00 a.m. It took about an hour until we arrived at North Seymour. As soon as we began our walk we started seeing all kinds of incredible birds! We saw great and magnificent frigate birds....blue-footed boobies…and flame birds. We also saw land iguanas and sea lions! There were lots of mommy and daddy birds taking care of their new chicks! It was so much fun to watch!!! The flame birds blow up their red necks as a way of enticing a female to mate with them. They beat their necks with their bills making an incredibly loud drumming sound. The iguanas sat quietly and calmly and just let us stare at them. The sea lions were frolicking in the water and sunbathing on the rocks!

After our visit to North Seymour Island, we went snorkeling! It was unbelievable! At one point I was swimming in the midst of hundreds of beautiful blue and yellow fish! It was like being in a tropical fish tank! They completely surrounded me and it almost felt like they were including me in their school! ☺ After about 45 minutes of snorkeling, we had lunch on the boat and then headed to Bacchus Island.

This island was completely different from N. Seymour! There were beautiful white sand beaches! We saw sea iguanas, sea lions, crabs, pelicans, and flamingo! While I was sitting on the beach there was a parade of sea iguanas coming out of the water. They would walk right next to you….no problem!

What I found so incredibly fascinating today was the fact that these animals are not afraid of humans! They have no problem co-existing! Our guide, Giancarlo, was explaining to us how the climate and weather patterns can impact the various species on the islands. He commented on how a few years ago the sea iguana population was cut by 40%! T hen…he said…that is all part of Darwin’s theory of natural selection…depending on the food supply or weather patterns…so will adapt…some will not! I know that sounds logical…but at that particular moment it kind of hit me that Darwin’s theory was coming to life! So exciting!!!!

Tomorrow we are headed to the Darwin Institute and the village of Playa Arroyo. After lunch we are going to visit the craters and then the sanctuary for the giant tortoises! Then…big treat when we return from our day! I convinced Mom to get a leg massage!!! ☺….and I am getting a shamanic massage…complete with rainsticks! I am really excited!

I’m trying to keep current…even though the Internet is slow and I can’t post. So…you may get a lot of postings at once…but know that they were written each day!