Galapagos Day 3

On Day 3 we sailed to the West of Isla Isabela and went ashore at Punta Moreno.

It is lava basically everwhere.

A cactus in the lava.

And slowly life is returning, including this flower.

Some of the lava. This type is almost in sheets.

While in other areas it is very rocky.

Growing in the lava is of course a lava cactus.

And a Galaneau living in a lava tube.

And who would have thought, but a family of six flamingos have settled in the middle of the lava, in a little lake that has formed there.

A close up of a pink flamingo.

A lava lizard.

Out on the rocks, the penguins and iguanas happily share.

A blue footed boobie giving us the stare.

While in the zodiac, we had some bottled nosed dolphins turn up!

It is quite rare to see them, so we were lucky.

This pelican guarding his rock.

This time penguins and crabs on the same rock.

In the afternoon we did a zodiac (they call them pungas) trip through the mangroves.

Love these trees.

A Great Blue Heron.

That is a sea turtle underneath the water.

A pelican flying alongside us.

And back to the boat.

We also did snorkeling in the late morning and that was incredible. I shot some underwater video but don’t have the cord with me to transfer the files. But masses of fish, and a couple of dozen giant sea turtles. Getting to swim alongside or above a majestic sea turtle was so cool.