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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A nesting blue footed boobie.
Flightless Cormorant.
A blue footed boobie... Doing
what they do best!
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.
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"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A red footed boobie, nesting
in a bush with an egg.