Galapagos Trip Diary

Visiting the Galapagos Island has been on our list for some time. In August, 2019 Jan and I took a Lindblad/National Geographic small boat cruise to the islands. I was apprehensive. Had the Galapagos become so popular that the wildlife was being harmed and the natural experience degraded?

Fortunately that does not seem to be the case. Ecuador is doing an excellent job at protecting the wildlife while making is available for people to experience. For example, time slots to visit the islands are strictly managed. A certified naturalist must be with you (no more than 16 people per naturalist) and in sight.

This is a summary of our trip with pictures. My usual travel diaries are organized by day. Here a different approach seemed better. The diary is structured primarily by what we saw — birds, seals, geology, etc.

Getting there and our itinerary

Getting to the Galapagos takes work. We flew from Madison, WI to Miami and stayed overnight in Miami. The next day we joined the tour group and flew to Guayaquil in Ecuador. Another overnight and then a morning flight to Espanola in Galapagos. From there we boarded our ship – The National Geographic Islander.

For the next seven days we were on the ship. The map below shows the islands we visited.

Then two days flying back home through Quito and Miami; getting out of Miami hours before a hurricane.

Sea Lions (there are no seals in the Galapagos)

You learn quickly from the guides that there are no seals in the Galapagos. There are only sea lions. Sea lions have ears (really small ones) and seals don’t.

There were sea lions on most of the islands. Some had lots of them. You often had to watch were you stepped. They were unafraid of humans. While snorkeling one swam inches away from me.

Sea lions are a harem species. One dominant male — the beach master — gets the females. The bachelors often live separately except for when they decide to challenge the beach master. We saw a beach master defending his harem. I wouldn’t want to get in his way.

Sea lions are great swimmers and divers. They have been recorded diving more than 900 feet. Their physiology is specially adapted to managing the pressure and oxygen problems in diving so deep. They can also climb much better than you might think. We often found them a long way from the ocean.

Here are a few pictures. Note that there is one picture of a young sea lion that had been attacked by a shark. Our guide said she expected the sea lion to recover since no vital organ or artery had been damaged. She had seen much worse. Nature is a brutal place.

Navigation note: click the arrows (or the dots below the picture) to move from one picture to the next.

This sea lion is called the "beach master." He has a harem of females and must chase off challengers to his position.

Sea Lion 4 — Sea lions can climb better than you would think. This one is a long way from the ocean.

Sea Lion 3 — Young seal recovering from a shark attack. It will likely recover according to our guide.

Crabs

There were many crabs as most of the islands we visited. Most were Sally Lightfoot crabs. There are several stories about where the name came from, most start with a woman.

Boobies

Boobies are sea birds. They got their name from the Spanish slang for stupid since they were so easily caught by sailors. There are three types of boobies found on the Galapagos: Nazca, Blue-footed, and Red-footed. We saw many of each including nesting pairs.

Boobies make dramatic dives for their prey. That was fun to watch. Evolution has produce slightly different behaviors between the species. For example, Red-footed boobies only nest in bushes while Blue-footed boobies only nest on the ground.

blue footed booby with eggs — Blue footed booby with eggs

blue footed booby with chicks — Blue footed booby with chicks

red footed booby — The red footed bobby is the only booby in the Galapagos that can grasp a branch and nest in bushes.

Albatrosses

We saw several wave albatrosses. These are large birds with an 8 foot wing span. The Galapagos is their primary nesting site.

We were fortunate to see a pair in the midst of their courtship ritual. Albatrosses mate for life. See video below.

Other Birds

The Galapagos Islands are a paradise for birders. There are many endemic species – birds that can be seen only in the Galapagos. The birds are not wary of humans so you can get close even when they are nesting.

There are many sea birds that nest only on islands and spend much of their lives at sea. For a mid-west birder it was a treat to see these birds I thought I would never get to see.

flamingo 2 — Flamingos can be seen on a couple of islands. We saw a flock on an inland lake on the island of Floreana.

Galapagos Mockingbird 2 — Galapagos mockingbird

frigate bird — Frigate birds are klepto-parasitic. They get most of their food by making other birds cough up fish they have caught. We saw this happen several times.

swallow tailed gull — Swallow tailed gull

swallow tailed gull 2 — Swallow tailed gull

swallow tailed gull - pair — Pair of swallow tailed gulls

There are three species of ground finch in the Galapagos -- small, medium, and large. This is a small ground finch.

lava heron — Lava heron - subspecies of striated heron

wave albatrosses 2 — Pair of wave albatrosses

wave albatroses 1 — Wave albatrosses starting courtship dance

Yellow Warbler — Yellow warbler. The only warbler in the Galapagos. This is the same species found in North America.

yellow warbler in surf — Unusual sight of yellow warbler feeding in the surf.

Iguanas

There are marine and land iguanas in the Galapagos. Both live only in the Galapagos. They are related with the land iguana breaking off from the marine iguanas about 4.5 million years ago. They are separate species but can interbreed.

We saw many marine iguana on the first islands we visited. You had to be careful not to step on them. Because there were so many, it was quite smelly being around them. They are generally black and dark red to blend in with the lava along the shore.

Land iguanas live more inland. Their colors vary as they blend in with their surroundings. They are endangered and efforts are underway to eliminate their man introduced predators such as feral cats.

Geography and Geology

The Galapagos archipelago is part of Ecuador and located about 600 miles off the coast. It consists of 21 islands. Several islands have small cities with a total population of about 30,000. Ecuador doesn’t allow new residents.

The islands are volcanic and experience volcanic activity. Many islands are very dry and get only a few inches of rain per year. The larger islands with high mountains (3,000 feet) can have a more tropical environment on the windward side where the mountains cause frequent rain.

Here are a few pictures of the scenery including lava flows.

lava flow 3 — Lava flow on Santiago island.

lava flow and trees — Rare patch of life on lava flow. This lava flow was over 200 years old yet there was little plant life.

lava flow 5 — Recent (200 years) lava flow on right next to volcanic cone of small volcanic rocks on left.

lava flow 4 — Juan Carlos providing explaining the island's volcanic history.

lava plant — On Santiago Island there was very little plant life on the lava even hundreds of years after the event. A few small plants like this and some small cacti. Little rain is the main reason.

Galapagos Tortoises

The Galapagos islands are probably known best for their tortoises. These animals came close to extinction as they were taken as food by whalers and other sailors. They provided a source of fresh meet since they could survive for months on ships with little or no food.

We saw the tortoises at the Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz island where there is a recovery effort underway to breed and raise tortoises for reintroduction.

tortoises - feeding — Galapagos tortoises feeding at the Darwin Research Center

baby tortoises — Baby tortoises at the Darwin Research Station

Not a tortoise but a sea turtle carcass on beach.

These tortoises grow to be over 600 lbs.

The Ship, other Excursions, and Miscellaneous

We sailed on the National Geographic Islander. It is a small older ship carrying on 48 passengers. We liked the more intimate atmosphere. Over the week you get to know everyone, especially during meals. Unexpectedly were were upgraded from the cheapest cabin to one of the best. We had been on two previous Lindblad cruises which may have been the reason.

There were a couple shore excursions that were not entirely wildlife related. We visited a farm that was typical of what used to be on the Galapagos. We also visited the Darwin Research Station.

National Geographis Islander - annotated — National Geographic Islander

sugar cane press — Demonstrating how they use to process sugar cane on small Galapagos farms.

Reading mail — Our guides distributing mail from a mailbox that has been in use since the early 1800s. Whalers and others would stop here to pick up and drop off mail. They picked up mail for delivery to places they would be going. We picked up a letter which we will deliver to a person in Tucson.

our room — Our room on the National Geographic Islander

Zodiacs took us to the islands several times each day.

wet landing in Zodiac — Typical wet landing in zodiac.

Bonus

I took some videos during the trip. Most were of birds. These are compiled in the video below. The video is minimally edited. There is no narrative.

Contact

I would be glad to answer any questions about this trip. You can email me at [email protected].

You may be interested in my other travel diaries. See my Travel page.