Galapagos: North Seymour and Bartolome Islands
North Seymour Island was our first port of call in the Galapagos Islands, and it set a high standard for the rest – who wouldn’t love the blue footed boobies? Of course, as so often in nature, it was the male who displayed the colours. We observed the blue feet in action as part of the mating ritual. The male moves from one foot to the other, and when their beautiful blueness has attracted a female he uses his beak to give her the first twig to start a nest. Sort of like an engagement ring? One poor little chap was pounding away so much that he had worn a hollow in the sand with not a female in sight. My heart bled for him!
We also saw frigate birds with their massive, blown-out red chests (the male again) and some very chilled sea-lions. It was our first indication of just how close you could get to the birds and animals – they didn’t see humans as a threat at all. I hope that’s still true today after the massive increase in tourism in Galapagos.
I have fewer wildlife photos of Bartolomé Island – this was a snorkelling stop. However, we did get a sighting (I think from the boat) of Galapagos penguins, the only penguins that live north of the equator in the wild. And a rather less laid back sea-lion – this one looks very pleased with himself!
More islands to come next Thursday!
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
Wow – incredible Anabel how close you managed to get and how relaxed the animals seemed to be. Great pictures – the little blue feet are so cute!!
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They are! I really fell for the wee guy who couldn’t get a mate.
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I love the blue footed booby. I hope he found his lady love in the future. great pictures and that one sea lion looks. Like he is breaking into song
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Yes he does! I think he would sing bass 😉
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We have a couple of boxes of slides in the loft too 🙂 I agree that it’s amazing how close you got, Anabel. That’s a very appealing shade of blue. Maybe if I run around outdoors with no socks on I’ll get the same effect?
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In this temperature – probably!
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This is definitely on my list of places to visit!
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Well worth it!
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Oh, I love penguins! 🙂
Those photos look really quite good. I know that today we are accustomed to digital photos, but these are very very good in my opinion.
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Thank you – they scanned pretty well too, but they’re not as good as we get now. Also, the choice wasn’t very wide. I remembered we had absolutely loads, and we probably did for the time when each film had to be developed and paid for!
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LOL, that’s true. I’ve never been one for photos, I have very few from my teen years. But now, it’s so easy to get – I mean, with your PHONE! – that even I have become a photo addict.
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I know. Our older photos are actually slides – even more inaccessible!
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What fabulous memories you must have of this trip. Lovely photos too. I have never snorkelled, not even on the Barrier Reef! I’m not good at putting my head under water.
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Me neither, which was why I was reluctant. We also went on a glass-bottomed boat at the Barrier Reef and you saw just as much I thought. In Galapagos I was quite happy wandering up and down the beach – we do have fabulous memories.
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We did do the glass bottomed boat trip, but all the photos turned out green 😀
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Ah, can’t remember what ours are like. They will be flushed out at the point I decide to blog about the Australian trip. I do remember a photo of us before we snorkelled in very unflattering purple wetsuits. That will not make the cut!
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LOL!
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I had a similar experience in Majorca. Not so exotic, i admit 😦
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Hi Anabel – that must have been a wonderful treat – such a trip for a lifetime … I’d love to visit – perhaps one day .. cheers Hilary
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I hope you get there!
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What a journey. Until I go there myself, I’ll revel in your story!
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Good plan! A couple more episodes to go.
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They are wonderful islands! I also enjoyed them a lot and had so much fun taking pictures of frigate birds and blue-footed boobies 🙂
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Agreed, wonderful! We loved our short time there.
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Waaaah! I can’t read! So cruel. I’ve not been (yet) though my family has, well the children. Far too jealous to enjoy his (though the pictures are fabulous). They raved about the snorkelling? I’m nit a snorkelling sort of traveller. Did you?
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I didn’t snorkel that time, though John did. I can’t remember where I had previously tried it and ended up spluttering. Anyway, I finally snorkelled a few years later at the Barrier Reef when it would have been totally stupid not to, but I’m still uncomfortable with it.
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