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| Espumilla Beach, Isla Santiago, Galapagos This is not such an unusual sight in the Galapagos, where the animals have unfettered access to their habitat, but visiting humans definitely do not— which is absolutely as it should be. |
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| We did encounter a couple of the locals, who graciously shared their beach with us. [To see more of the Thursday Photo Challenge, visit Dale's meme.] |
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| That's what this lava lizard (spotted on a trip to the Galapagos) was doing. Since all of the creatures there seem to have no fear of humans—and no reason to—we were warned to watch out for these little guys while hiking on a 100-square-mile lava field on the island of San Salvador. [Today's prompt for the Thursday Photo Challenge is "small animals." To see more, visit Dale's meme.] And it's the 1st of the month, so I've posted to my Paris blog. |
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| There were once more than a hundred thousand of these giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands. (The Spanish sailors who discovered the islands in 1535 named them for these creatures; the Spanish for tortoise is galàpago.) Now there are only about 15,000 of them left, and they are fiercely protected. This venerable old fellow lives the good life at the Charles Darwin Research Station. [To see more ABC posts, go here.] |
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| I captured this camera-shy ghost crab on pristine Espumilla Beach at James Bay, Isla Santiago, in the Galapagos. The beach is studded with little holes and he's scurrying to reach the safety of one of them . . . |
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| . . . and so are all of his friends! [To see more things that are orange, go here.] |
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| This is a marine iguana (photo by my daughter Katie), which can be found nowhere on earth but in the Galapagos. Darwin thought they were disgusting and clumsy and referred to them as "imps of darkness." But, Charles, how could you resist that silly smile? [To see more ABC posts, go here.] |
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| This great bearded heron looks a bit like a grumpy old man in a gray overcoat, doesn't it? The only one of its kind that we saw in the Galapagos, this bird was strolling along a lava field on Isla Santiago (and like all the creatures we encountered, on land or in the sea, not the least bit bothered by us). [To see more ABC posts, go here.] |
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| These well-tended—by which I mean aggressively left in peace, if that's not too much of an oxymoron— volcanic islands have to be the most incredible place I've ever had the privilege to visit. (I'm pretty sure I'll be back for the letters H and I.) What you see here in the foreground is an ancient volcano that's now under water. [To see more ABC posts, go here.] |
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| My favorite time of day—l'heure bleu. I enjoyed this blue hour while sailing around the Galapagos. (Still can't believe I'm able to say that!) [To see more shots that feature the color blue, visit Smiling Sally's meme.] |
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| Been saving this one since I got back from the Galapagos (we were up to the letter M then). The males attract females by doing a courtship dance with their big blue feet—if the female is impressed, then she joins in. [To see more ABC posts, go here.] |
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| This is a frigatebird. They are great hunters, but are not above snatching the catch away from other seabirds. This one was flying above the boat I was on in the Galapagos. [To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme, The Weekend in Black and White.] |
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| When I was sailing around the Galapagos this past October, I came out on deck one early morning and encountered this endearing visitor. |
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| The 14 passengers were thrilled to welcome this sea lion aboard (she didn't stay too long, though, as this was the spot where we boarded the pangas for our shore excursions). [To see more ABC posts, go here.] |
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| I found this long-gone bird (a pelican, I presume) on the island of Bartolomé, in the Galapagos. The island is uninhabited and we were the only humans there at that time. I learned later (when I had to step around the decomposing carcass of a marine iguana) that in these protected islands things are left as they would be if we humans weren't here at all. [Today is Shadow Shot Sunday. To see more shadows, go here.] |
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| At first glance you might think that this is all about the sun on the clouds at the top of the photo. But when I took this shot, I was actually focusing on that small band of light between the sea and the clouds. [To see more Skywatch shots, go here.] |
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| The Galapagos are volcanic islands and you won't see lush vegetation everywhere—but when we traveled up to the highlands of the island of San Cristobal, I found these pretty lantana. [To see more Mellow Yellow, go here. To see more macros, visit Lisa's Chaos.] |
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| There are a few do's and dont's you need to follow when you visit the Galapagos Islands: Don't touch the animals, no matter how friendly they may seem to be; stay with your guide; and don't leave anything or take anything away. When I travel, I tend to come home with a few "free" souvenirs— rocks, shells, pressed flowers—but on this trip, I stuck to photos. [To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.] |
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| O, a wondrous bird is the pelican! His bill holds more than his belican. He can take in his beak Enough food for a week. But I'm damned if I see how the helican. —Dixon Lanier Merritt, The Pelican [1910] I've seen this clever limerick attributed to Ogden Nash and also to Edward Lear. But credit where it's due: Merritt was a newspaperman, poet, and humorist (and if Bartlett's says he wrote it . . . case closed). [To see more ABC posts, go here.] |
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| To me, this looks like the folds of some nubby cloth. But it's lava! It dried in beautiful patterns like this after an 1865 volcanic eruption on the Island of Santiago (aka San Salvador) in the Galapagos. Darwin never got to see this, since it happened 30 years after he visited the islands. [To see more monochromes, visit Dragonstar's meme.] |
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| Last Friday, I shared the sunset from this stark yet beautiful place. I think the sunrise deserves equal billing, don't you? Later, we trekked—like mad dogs and Englishmen— all the way up to the very top of this hill (and the climb was so worth it for the view, which you can see in my banner shot). [To see more Skywatch, go here. To see more Weekend Reflections, visit James's meme.] |
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| Is this a face only a mother (or another Galapagos land iguana) could love? Darwin described them as "ugly" and having "a singularly stupid appearance." This one lives at the Darwin Research Station; he's full-grown at about 5 feet long and 25 pounds, will live to be 50 or 60 years old— and I kind of like his extraordinary face. [To see more Mellow Yellow, go here. To see more macros, visit Lisa's Chaos.] |
