Yesterday morning I was wide-awake and raring to go before our wake-up call (Carlos, the expedition leader, on channel 1 of the intercom), so I participated in the Morning Stretch class (led by Hilda, the wellness specialist) on the Sun Deck.
No need for that today--we were off to the island of Floreana for an early morning hike at a site called Punta Cormorant. The beach where we landed had greenish sand (olivine) and a number of interesting urchins and shells (and, of course, sea lions).
The first part of our hike led us past some endemic plants to a brackish lagoon.
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| Yellow daisy bush |
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| Daisy tree |
The brackish lagoon is a prime spot for Greater Flamingoes. There is a resident population of 400-500 flamingoes in the Galápagos Islands, and many are found on Floreana. We were lucky enough to see quite a few at their early morning feeding and in flight around the lagoon area.
Then we hiked up and down to get to the other side of the peninsula.
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| No, we didn't hike over this hill... |
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| Jason, naturalist with our group on this hike, told me the name of this bird, but I don't recall. Anyone? |
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| Magnificent frigatebirds in flight |
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| Palo verde and ground cover |
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| Palo Verde |
Our destination was a white (coralline) sand beach, nesting site for green sea turtles. The turtles were gone before sunup, but we could see their tracks and the sites where eggs may have been laid.
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| The path of a green sea turtle from the water to the nesting area |
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| Likely nesting site |
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| This track was from this morning--fresh, and it goes right into the water, not yet erased by the tide. |
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| Kevin walking among the old & new sea turtle tracks. |
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| These are older--see how the tide has erased the sections closer to the water? |
We saw stingrays in the shallows and a yellow warbler on the beach.
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| Really, the dark patches are stingrays! |
Good-bye to the beach and back to the ship for breakfast!!
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