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Amazing Wildlife

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador - Oct. 2016
Photos from my extraordinary trip to the Galapagos with Lindblad Expeditions as a representative of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society & Canadian Geographic. It is incredible how tame the wildlife is there. None of the species seems to care at all about humans walking around. You're allowed to get within 6 feet, but sometimes, they get curious and walk up to you.
We spent a week aboard the National Geographic Endeavour. Many thanks to the staff and crew for making the trip so memorable.

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Our ship, the National geographic Ocean Endeavour at sunset.
Sunset pelican.
Marine iguanas are only found in the Galapagos, and they are the only lizard species to feed underwater.

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The tidal zones are filled with many colorful crabs.
Marine iguana. They grow to about 4 feet in length, and blend into the lava rock.
A Galapagos sea lion. These guys were everywhere, but it was rare to see them in amongst the seaweed and algae.

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I managed to capture this guy with his mouth open.
Contrasting colours. A colorful crab in a piece of hollowed out driftwood.
A baby Galapagos sea lion. This cute little guy was waiting on shore for mama to come back from fishing in the Pacific.

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Blue footed boobie. One of 3 different boobie species found in the islands.
A green sea turtle coming up for a breath.
Half a sun... Taken right at the equator.

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Crossing the Equator on board the National Geographic Endeavour.
A Galapagos land iguana. unlike the marine iguanas who gather in groups along the shore, these lizards are solitary.
One of the famous Galapagos giant tortoises.

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A yellow warbler, perched along the coastline.
I loved the color contrast with this crab on the seaweed. It took some patience to get this photograph.
A pair of flightless cormorants. The Galapagos has the only cormorants in the world that do not fly.

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A nesting blue footed boobie.
Flightless Cormorant.
A blue footed boobie... Doing what they do best!

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Brown Pelican at dusk.
The sun setting behind our ship. It was a great vessel with an amazing staff and crew.
Sea lion breaching the surface as we motor past in a Zodiac.

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A marine iguana, caught mid-sneeze. They snort out excess salt that they ingest when they graze on undersea algae.
Watching these sea lions was entertaining for hours.
"Leave me alone"

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Cute little sea lions.
This sea lion has obviously been attacked by a large shark at some point. You can see the perfect outline of the bite mark. It got lucky and escaped.
These two little sea lions were so entertaining. They never left each other's side as they wandered up and down the beach, annoying the other sea lions.

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A sea lion lying in a crevice in the rocks.
Great Blue Heron.
I like the way the light illuminates this sea lion's whiskers.

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Hello there.
While we were away on a hike, these sea lions decided to turn our bag of stuff on the beach into their bed. I guess it's theirs now...
Giant Galapagos tortoise.

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I love the character on their face. These gentle giants are amazing to watch.
I couldn't believe the spot where these tortoises were. I lost count of them, there were so many of them.
That's some tough looking skin on this Galapagos tortoise.

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Munching away.
Cooling off in the mud.
These tortoises were in the wild, not in a preserve. We got lucky, there were so many of them that I lost count at about 50.

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This guys was racing at us full speed.... Well, full speed for a tortoise.
Blue footed boobie.
This boobie had the bluest feet I saw on the whole trip.

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A red footed boobie, nesting in a bush with an egg.
Waves crash with Kicker Rock in the background.
A sleepy, sand-covered sea lion on the beach.

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Kicker Rock at sunset, eclipsing the sun.

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