Click here to view the full album of photos from July 20: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbartucz/20100720?feat=directlink
While we were eating breakfast, an announcement came over the loudspeakers that we should head to the bow of the boat. We all rushed out to see what it could be. As we looked down, 4 dolphins were jumping in the water swimming back and forth between the hulls of our catamaran. I asked the captain how fast we were going and he said about 15 knots.
Dolphins
Sea Lion Island
Boobie chicks
We landed on Islas Lobos (Sea Lion Island) and went for a hike. The highlight of this trip was certainly the blue-footed boobie nests, which were literally under foot. The birds were so non-chalant that one could have picked up the chicks and carried them around.
Male frigate
Galapagos Tortoise
After chugging along for a couple of hours, we stopped at the Island of San Cristobal. We took a 30-minute bus ride across to a Tortoise breeding farm. Every year, they take about 10-20 eggs, put them in an incubator and breed them to maturity before releasing them back to the wild.
Bird
The goal is to attain proficiency at breeding in captivity in case anything drastic should happen to the wild tortoise population. Michelle spotted about 10 of the 30 captive tortoises and we all got some good pictures.
After San Cristobal, we visited the town of Puetro Baquerizo Moreno, the political capital of the Galapagos. We all bought souvenirs and wandered up and down the main street along the shore. About 5,000 people live in the town, but it seemed completely deserted.
