The girls really enjoyed it too.
When we landed, we were greeted by red crabs and sea lions, but we quickly spotted a yellow land iguana sunning itself.
Jeff got a picture of a more active one a bit later.
He even got a close up.
Every so often, he also swung his camera to check on the rest of his family, and Judy took a family picture for us.
We were all super excited when we spotted a blue footed boobie.
As we walked along, we saw some interesting netting. Our guide explained that these were new prickly pear cacti, and there was an effort to grow more in areas where they had been damaged. She said that the large ones we were seeing were around 100 years old.
As we walked up the cliff, we came upon a sea lion who was done sunning himself and ready to head back down to the water. He waddled right past our group, and we had to shift to stay out of his way.
He did stop very responsibly at the stop sign though.
Our guide explained to us that the shinier rocks had been used by sea lions, and the oils from their skin (along with other bodily fluids) had made the rocks slick.
We finished our walk along the shore spotting sea lions napping in the shade and basking on the rocks. We even saw a little marine iguana.
We had some lunch when we got back, and in the early afternoon, they offered another shot at the glass bottom boat. This time, Jeff and Vivian stayed on the ship, and Elena and I went off in search of sharks. Jeff got some pictures of us on the zodiac and the fun process of transferring from the zodiac to the glass bottomed boat.
This time around we saw not one, but three Galapagos sharks resting in the rocks. We were also surprised by a beautiful group of golden rays swimming under our boat, and, in addition to our yellow tailed friends, we found some beautiful blue fish with orange tails. I didn't get any pictures, but my Aunt Molly did, so I'll add those as soon as she sends them to me. It was a great experience, and Elena was completely satisfied.
The afternoon island was North Seymor, which was completely different from the other two islands. Here, the soil was a reddish brown and the trees were in their white, hibernating state.
It was a perfect place for birds though, and we saw hundreds of them nesting. The younger birds were more juveniles than chicks and could be distinguished by their whiter, somewhat fluffier feathers.
The stars of the island though, were the magnificent frigate birds (magnificent is actually part of their name), who puff out a red sack as part of their mating ritual.
Jeff also got some great pictures of the great frigate bird.
But everyone got distracted by the super cute sea lion pups.
There was also a full sized sea lion napping directly across the path.
You're not allowed to get too close to them, but you're also supposed to stay on the path, since you don't want to inadvertently step on bird's nest. The guides consulted and found a safe alternate path for us to use to get around the napping sea lion.
As we walked along, we came across this group of trees just full of various types of birds. They didn't seem to mind each other at all.
Jeff also got some good pictures of the waves crashing on the shore and the sun setting.
It was another incredible and full day. I had learned my lesson from the night before where the girls fell asleep at dinner. We got them cleaned up and in their pajamas before heading to dinner. They stayed awake this time, but were asleep shortly afterwards. That night I dreamed of birds and sea lions and colorful islands.
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