Galápagos: Isla Santa Fe
*cover photo by Athene Blakeman.
Our next stop on Day 2 was Barrington Bay, a beautiful little bay on the coast of Santa Fe Island. As soon as we entered the bay on the pangas, we were greeted by a group of sting rays!
The Archipel II centers the frame!
The best part about Barrington Bay was its huge colony of endangered Galápagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki). As soon as we got there, a curious and territorial male began parking at us from across the beach, running in and out of the water and swimming back and forth. There were also so many sea lion pups!
A word about how close I seem to be to the pup: We were instructed to maintain a 2m radius around the animals. Despite our diligence, sometimes animals were unavoidably close. This sea lion and many others nearby were parked right in the middle of the walking path. They didn’t seem to mind our presence (which is another fascinating side note about the Galápagos wildlife - they allow such close proximity in large part due to their lack of predators), so we carefully did our best to circumvent them. And camera zoom helps a lot too.
See the lizard on the baby sea lion to the right and another lizard on a rock above the adult sea lion to the left? As these sea lions sleep and lounge, they are ravaged by flies. The lava lizard is a mutualist with the sea lions (and other creatures), whereby lizards hop up on top of the sea lions and catch flies, so it’s not uncommon sight to see so many lava lizards nearby sleeping lions.
Getting some use out of my new Moment macro lens for my iPhone.
Lava lizard! I made friends with this one. Flies were swarming on me and as I swatted them, the lava lizard would immediately pluck them from the ground. I was closely watched.
Hermit crab! I love the pattern it makes in the sand.
At the end of the day, coming back onto the boat with these guys was a treat. Our brilliant naturalist guide, Paola, is 2nd to right. (And she’s starting a PhD program at Arizona State this fall!)
Because I would find things like this on my bed — a ray with my glasses and little chocolates for eyes.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
