Big Reptiles

To Islas Isabela & Fernandina, Ecuador -- Tues-Wed, April 18-19

Turtles, Sea Lions, and Iguanas have been the highlights over the last couple days. Now that we are on the western side of the islands, the water has suddenly become much cooler making the snorkeling a lot less fun. Even with our short wetsuits, we’ve been happy to get out after fifteen or twenty minutes.  It always seems counterintuitive to me, but the colder currents are also the ones highest in nutrients, which seems to have affected the visibility as well. Pedro promised sea turtles at our evening briefing the day before last, and there was no problem with that. Here's Dex's take:

Today, we took a really long panga ride and saw Sea Lion colonies, a Blue-Footed Boobie diving, and even saw three Flightless Cormorants plus tons and tons of Green Sea Turtles poking their heads up to breath. Then we went into a cave about 50 feet back carved out by the waves. As we were leaving the cave, someone spotted a dorsal fin and we rushed over to check it out. Though I only got one quick glimpse of it. I saw that it was a huge Sunfish, about five feet tall and four feet long.  

Manta Ray

It was hard getting into the water today. It was soooo cold. I was the last one in... but I got in! There were tons of turtles just drifting along. I saw a flightless cormorant swimming, but he, apparently, wasn't looking and bumped right into me! (Dad's note, I was floating nearby watching some turtles, when something grabbed my fin and tried to pull it off -- those cormorants are a mischievous bunch!)  

A flightless (and mischievous) cormorant

Turtle taking a breath

Then I spotted a wrasse, a bright orange fish with black spots on its back. Afterwards, Kylie and I swam to the boat. For the first time, I felt warmer out of the water than in. About ten minutes later, though, there were four sea lions swimming around Becky. Kylie and I decided to brave the water again and got in, and it was so cool. One of the little sea lions had a fish, but just played with it like it was a chew toy. The other sea lions would try to steal it. It was really fun to watch.

As advertised, many of the animals here seem to be completely oblivious to humans. I nearly stepped on an iguana’s tail last night. Since they are the exact same color as the black lava rock, it takes a while to realize that you’re actually looking at five dozen Iguanas and not just a bunch of rocks. They also have a disgusting habit of blowing “salt water” out of their noses. When there’s a huge group lounging around together, every fifteen seconds one will spray anyone nearby with the contents of their nostrils. None of them seem to care... tourist beware!

Today (Thursday) we had a chance to see the yellow land Iguanas that inhabit the southern portion of Isla Isabela. If anything, they are even bigger than the seagoing variety though apparently much more anti-social as we only saw lone individuals. We also spied a couple huge land tortoises hiding in the brush.

Our final excursion of the day took us to Elizabeth Bay and the mangroves there.  We slowly puttered and paddle through the water channels first seeing penguins, pelicans, and herons before coming to a turtle haven and watching at least twenty turtles gliding and popping their heads up now and then. We learned that the red mangroves are smaller and have many more roots that criss-cross each other, while the white mangroves grow into full-fledged trees, given enough time.

Meg and Bill

Great Blue Heron

Dex and Kylie have really taken to Jon and Jackie who have a fabulous sense of humor and tolerate their endless riddles. This afternoon they played a cutthroat game of Chinese Checkers. The entire group has been great with them and, in private, complimented us on their behavior. I did have to let them know, however that all is not as necessarily as it appears. Yesterday, they had a spat. Kylie ended up locking herself up in the bathroom with her knitting and both their Kindles while Dex emptied the entire contents of her backpack across the floor -- proof that they are indeed just normal kids.

Two happy girls

Letting Paula in on the card trick secret