Day 3 on the Galapagos

The next morning, we woke up anchored off Isabela Island, the largest of the Galapagos Islands, at Vincente Roco Point. This is one of the newer islands, so there is lots of lava, as you can see on the right side of the photo.

Our first outing of the day was a ride in the little boats to see what we could see. We first went into a cave.

Whoa! It's dark in here!

We didn't see much in the cave, but after we exited, a Sea Turtle gave us a welcome.

And WOW! Our first view of the Galapagos Penguins! It just seems strange that there are penguins on the equator!

We had been seeing a lot of Frigatebirds in the air, but this was one of the few times we saw them on the ground. This is a male, as you can see by the red pouch on his neck. When he is trying to attract a female, he blows it up.

And WOW again! That's a lot of Marine Iguanas!

After we returned to the ship, we went out on a snorkeling excursion.

The Galapagos Penguins are so cute -

And they even lined up for us so we could get a good picture!

Another thing I really wanted to see on this trip was the Flightless Cormorant. They can't fly because they have evolved into a larger bird, but their wings didn't evolve larger.

They have beautiful blue eyes! A short video showing how they maneuver, being unable to fly.

While we were eating lunch, the ship moved over to Fernandina Island, the newest of the islands, and farthest west. We went on a hike here where we saw a couple of skeletons.

We also saw some unique cactus.

Wow! Another mob of Marine Iguanas!

With a Sally Lightfoot Crab to provide some color.

Smile! When we were almost back to the ship, we saw a Sea Lion rolling around and having a good time.