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Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands |
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the first four nights in the Galapagos we stayed in the Red Mangrove Inn. |
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Diving in Academy Bay, Santa Cruz,
Galapagos Islands |
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| This sting ray was hiding on the
bottom. |
There were plenty of decent
sized fish. |
The second dive was at a site
called Loberia (the place of the lions - sea lions). |
Margaret showing me how it is
done. |
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| These barnacle blennys are about
the size of a pea. |
There were lots of sea lions
playing around us. |
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Here they are again, playing
above the two of us. |
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| They were very inquisitive about
the camera. |
A movie
of sea lions playing with us - requires Windows Media Player (available
for Windows and Mac) |
A braver fish than most. |
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Diving at Santa Fe, Galapagos Islands |
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| This tiny fish followed our dive
master's fin for about two minutes, and even stuck to it when he took the
fin off for this photo opportunity. |
This tiny nudibranch is half the
size of a pea, and hard to spot even with its bright colouring. |
A moray eel. |
And another. |
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| There was plenty of sea grass
for the fish to feed upon. |
Plenty of beautiful sea stars. |
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| More fish. |
Timothy at the end of the Day. |
Margaret cleaning her wetsuit. |
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Diving at Floreana, Galapagos Islands |
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| There were schools of fish with
hundreds, even thousands of fish of a single type at times. |
Different types of corals than
we were used to in Australia. |
The true colours of corals only
show up with flash photography. |
A king angelfish. |
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| A streamer hog fish. |
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San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands |
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On the fourth day after arriving we started our cruise,
and the first stop was a beach on San Cristobal where sea lions lounged
about. |
They didn't seem scared of
humans at all. |
That evening we had a beautiful
sunset. |
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| Espanola,
Galapagos Islands
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| Marine iguanas basked on the
rocks. |
Sally lightfoot crabs scuttled
among them. |
Blue footed
boobies performed their courtship dance, seemingly ignorant of our
presence. Here the male is showing his wings. |
The female reciprocating. |
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| Then both together. |
A movie
of the blue footed booby courtship dance - requires Windows Media Player
(available for Windows and Mac) |
The waved albatross. |
The swallow-tailed gull. |
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Marine iguanas hanging out
together...often sharing space to
share warmth. |
The masked booby. |
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All of the animals seem to
live in close proximity. |
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| Snorkling later that day,
we caught a white-tip reef shark on camera. |
King angelfish. |
There were litterally
dozens of golden rays. |
And another pacific green
turtle. |
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South Plaza, Galapagos Islands
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A land iguana. |
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As Timothy walks back to the shoreline you
can see our boat, the Millennium, in the background. |
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| Marine iguanas. |
The hard to photograph red-billed tropic
bird. |
The two of us towards the end of the day. |
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Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands
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| Back on Santa Cruz island, we visited the
Charles Darwin research station where giant tortoises are raised and then
returned to the wild. |
And here an adult male. |
An adult male and an adult female. |
A movie
of giant land tortoises - requires Windows Media Player
(available for Windows and Mac) |
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| A lava tube (on an eight
second exposure). |
A yellow warbler. |
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Rabida, Galapagos Islands
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A female lava lizard, the red neck indicating
that she is sexually mature. |
A blue footed booby dive-fishing. |
A blue footed booby having a look under the
water. |
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Santiago, Galapagos Islands
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| A fur seal, not to be confused with a sea
lion. |
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Margaret with a sea lion. |
Another sting ray. |
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| Lots of white-tip reef sharks; nothing to
worry about. |
A movie
of white-tip reef sharks - requires Windows Media Player (available for
Windows and Mac) |
Another pacific green turtle. |
Another beautiful sunset. |
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Bartolome, Galapagos Islands
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| Morning panga ride to search for penguins. |
A relatively recent geological feature,
Bartolome island is only beginning to show sings of life... |
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| A sunken caldera can only be recognised from
some height. |
Much of the island looks more like a lunar
landscape. |
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Santiago, Galapagos Islands
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| Ropy lava. |
Flamingos on shore. |
More penguins and the Millenium. |
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| This one in the water. |
A particularly curious pup. |
KFP tonight. |
A movie
of a penguin chasing fish underwater - requires Windows Media Player
(available for Windows and Mac) |
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| A movie
of two pacific green turtles, one taking a bite at the other - requires
Windows Media Player (available for Windows and Mac) |
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Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands
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| A panga ride into a lagoon. |
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South Plaza, Galapagos Islands
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| A parrot fish. |
A female great frigate. |
A male great friggate, puffing
up its pouch in an attempt to attract a mate. |
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| Mainland
Ecuador (Quito and The Otavalo)
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| Standing on the equator. |
The Otovalo country-side was
wonderfully verdant. |
Otavalo is famous for its market
that goes back to pre-Inca times. |
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