Halling Holidays: Galapagos part 1 of 2

We flew to the islands and boarded Silverseas Galapgos on her maiden (post refurbishment) voyage to the islands. We travelled the Eastern (older) islands of Santa Cruz, Seymor Norte, Genevosa, St Cristobel and Espanola. On each island we had guides that kept us to paths and as a result none of the animals are afraid of humans (indeed many have few predators). This lack of fear enabled many close up pictures (I took over 1000 in a week). This blog is centred on animals and the next on bird life. Our voyage covered most of the islands to the East of the “Sea Horse”.

The coastline of the islands was spectacular with many being volcanoes (the older ones are those that have drifted to the East). (This is not a volcano but a quite spectacular blow hole.)

The cliffs included calderas which assist many of the larger birds to take off.

There are limited species most of whom have been forced to adapt to their unique surroundings. Flowers are either white or yellow with no scent. This is because the few pollinators that are on the islands are not attracted to scent or other colours so there is no purpose in plants being any different.

Plants and animals are generally imaginatively called the Galapagos, Darwin or Lava something. This is the Galapagos cotton plant.

Much of the inland scenery is unusual and not seen anywhere else. This is Dragon Hill on Santa Cruz.

One very successful plant is the prickly pear cactus, many of which are some 200 years old. This one has suffered at the hands (well hoofs) of introduced donkeys scratching for moisture.

A common theme on all the islands is sea lions. The females and young have a strong bond for a year or so (until the next pup arrives).

This is a very new pup with the after birth still attached much to the delight of a mocking bird.

Each harem is protected by an Alpha male who in some cases is quite aggressive. This one took to chasing a few of us up the beach. However, all this testosterone is difficult to maintain and most Alphas lose their position to another male within 4 weeks. Keeps the Gene pool strong albeit it results in many bachelor beaches where males spend a few months recovering their energy and healing their wounds.

Many species have a symbiotic relationship with one another. Here a beautiful yellow warbler (male as it has a red head) is looking for small irritating insects.

This species however, is not allowed within 2 metres of an animal so that their natural habits remain untainted.

The islands are host to many iguanas and uniquely there is a marine variety on many of the islands. These feed on algae in the sea and although they are air-breathing can stay under water for some 45 minutes. When on land they have to excrete the salt that has made its way into their system and do this by sneezing. When they are ashore lying in the sun and warming up it is about their only activity.

The size varies tremendously between islands as each species has adapted to its particular environment. Hence marine iguanas on Genevosa were much smaller than elsewhere as there is not so much food available. By comparison this male land iguana on Seymor Norte does not appear to be too deprived.

And these on Santa Cruz (South Plaza) clearly had no shortage of energy as they continued to mate and run across the island.

They (and the seals) do seem to have an uncanny knack of moulding to the rocks and look quite comfortable.

There were also a variety of lava lizards all of which have evolved into a variety of sub-species which are different on each island. This one belongs to Saint Cristobel.

One of the favourites is the Giant tortoise which also has a sub-species on each island. This is the dome shaped variety on Santa Cruz. Elsewhere a saddleback has evolved which occurred as food was off the ground and required the tortoise to reach up. The front of the shell over the years has developed a saddle appearance to enable the neck to stretch up.