You may have read my post from last spring in which I described a wonderful trip I took to the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands in March 2010.\u00a0 Along with my colleague Sarah Gibbs, we took a class of 24 Colby students to those wonderful islands.\u00a0 I was able to visit two islands that I had not visited earlier.<\/p>\n
We flew from Quito to the airport on San Crist\u00f3bal.\u00a0 The immigration line extended out of the small terminal.\u00a0 That wait allowed us to watch a pair of Cactus Finches building a nest in a large cactus adjacent to the terminal.\u00a0 The Cactus Finch is one of 13 species of Darwin\u2019s finches, found only in the Gal\u00e1pagos.<\/p>\n
We took a bus ride into Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the main town on San Crist\u00f3bal, and checked into our hotel.\u00a0 A Chatham Mockingbird was perched on the windowsill of my room.\u00a0\u00a0 Four endemic mockingbirds occur on the Gal\u00e1pagos and the Chatham Mockingbird is only known from San Crist\u00f3bal.<\/p>\n
That afternoon, we took a long hike along the coast to some highlands.\u00a0 Both Magnificent and Great Frigatebirds were nesting near the tops of some cliffs.\u00a0 Small Ground Finches and Medium Ground Finches were common.\u00a0 Along the shore, we saw Lava Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Striated Herons, Ruddy Turnstones, hundreds of Gal\u00e1pagos Sea Lions and many Marine Iguanas.<\/p>\n
The next morning, we boarded a couple of boats for the two-hour crossing to the islands of Santa Cruz.\u00a0 Along the way, Gal\u00e1pagos Shearwaters and Eliot\u2019s Storm-Petrels were common.<\/p>\n
Our first stop on Santa Cruz was the Charles Darwin Research Station where captive breeding of Gal\u00e1pagos tortoises is ensuring the survival of these behemoths.\u00a0 On the grounds, we saw Large Ground Finches, Small Ground Finches, Gal\u00e1pagos Flycatchers and Gal\u00e1pagos Mockingbirds (this mockingbird is found on a number of the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands).<\/p>\n
After lunch, we visited Los Gemelos (the twins), two massive depressions at higher altitude.\u00a0 We were treated to several gorgeous Gal\u00e1pagos Doves, Warbler Finches and a fly-by Dark-billed Cuckoo.\u00a0\u00a0 We had a look at a perched cuckoo and a Smooth-billed Ani later in the day when we visited some lava tunnels tall enough to easily walk through.<\/p>\n
We had an early start the next day for a cruise to the extremely arid island of Bartholom\u00e9.\u00a0 The sea was calm and the day was sunny.\u00a0 From the boat, we saw Eliot\u2019s Storm-Petrels, Red-billed Tropicbirds, Nazca Boobies, Blue-footed Boobies, Brown Noddies and massive flocks of Red-necked Phalaropes.\u00a0 We saw several Swallow-tailed Gulls perched on the cliffs of Daphne Major when we sailed close by this small island. Manta Rays occasionally jumped out of the water for memorable views.<\/p>\n
On Bartholom\u00e9, we saw Lava Herons, American Oystercatchers and lots of Blue-footed Boobies.\u00a0 A Gal\u00e1pagos Hawk soared over the island and was later perched at the pinnacle of the island.\u00a0 Snorkeling provided views of a diversity of fish as well as sea turtles.<\/p>\n
We returned to Santa Cruz, exhausted but exhilarated.\u00a0 The following morning we were back on boats to the island of Isabela, the largest island in the archipelago.\u00a0 Approaching from the south, this island had a distinctly different feel.\u00a0 The sand was white, not gray as we had seen on other islands.\u00a0 Mangroves ringed the shoreline and the water was a beautiful blue-green.\u00a0 I could have been convinced I was in the Caribbean except for the fact there were Gal\u00e1pagos Penguins swimming around the boat and dock!\u00a0\u00a0 We later got to see a number of penguins and Blue-footed Boobies up close and personal.<\/p>\n
A bus excursion that afternoon included a stop at a large lagoon where American Flamingoes, White-cheeked Pintails and Common Moorhens were feeding.\u00a0 The flamingoes were magnificent!<\/p>\n
The next morning we boarded an open-air bus to the trail head for Cerro Negro, one of the five major volcanoes on Isabela.\u00a0 Cerro Negro was last active in 2005.\u00a0\u00a0 Our ultimate goal was to climb Volc\u00e1n Chico, a parasitic volcano on the side of Cierro Negro.\u00a0 The hike was a round-trip of 12 miles.<\/p>\n
The views of the caldera of Cerro Negro were amazing; the caldera is about seven miles across and we could see where the lava from the 2005 eruption had killed some of the vegetation in the caldera.<\/p>\n
Small Tree-Finches and Large Tree-Finches were seen along the hike to Cerro Negro.\u00a0 Vermilion Flycatchers cooperated nicely for everyone in the class.\u00a0 A few of us got to see Gal\u00e1pagos Martins, hawking insects over the caldera.<\/p>\n