Galapagos | AnneBeltonPhotos

In 2023 my son Ian invited me to go to the Galapagos Islands with him. We spent a night in Guayaquil, Ecuador before flying to Baltra, the one airport in the islands. We were met there and taken to a lodge near Puerto Ayora for a night. The next morning we took a boat taxi to Villamil (2 hours) where the tour really began.

In Guayaquil our hotel was on the Guayas River, so we walked the boardwalk in the afternoon and saw a variety of birds feeding on the low tide.

Cattle Egret

House Wren

Pale-legged Hornero

Blue and White Swallow

Exit of airport in Guayaquil

Guayas River

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Snowy Egret

Great-tailed Grackle

Guayaquil as seen on the flight out.

First sight of the Galapagos Islands, The airport, and the dog checking all incoming luggage.

Enchanted Lodge near Puerto Ayora

Medium Ground Finch

Yellow Warbler

Galapagos Flycatcher

Yellow Warbler

Galapagos Giant Tortoise

In the afternoon we took a taxi into the port and walked around the docks, lots of people but also lots of wildlife!

Magnificent Frigatebird

Great Blue Heron

Galapagos Shearwater

Sea Lion

Medium Ground Finch

Black-tipped Shark, swam right by the dock

Mediun Ground Finch (f)

Great Blue Heron

Galapagos Flycatcher

Some sort of Ray swimming by the dock

Sea Lion were everywhere!

In the harbour at Villamil most of the fishing boats had Sea Lions on them, and my brother worries about Cormorants on his boats!!!

We were taken on a side trip to Tintoreras, in a Zodiac with a group of high school kids from Virginia!!

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Galapagos Penguin

Brown Pelican just spotted a fish!

Lava Heron - really just a form of a Striated Heron

Having a nap - Galapagos Giant Tortoise

Our 1st Blue-footed Booby

Cotton

And finally to our yatch - the Beluga where we were for 5 nights. 14 other tourists on board. After lunch we went on shore to a turtle reserve where they breed and release, and to a lagoon. We then walked on the beach where there were some shorebirds.

Black-necked Stilt

Pink Flaminngo

Moorhen

Medium Ground Finch

Galapagos Flycatcher

White-cheeked Pintail

Wandering Tattler

Ruddy Turnstone

Semipalmated Plover

Black-bellied Plover

Lava Lizard

1st day comes to an end - can't believe we are actually in the Galapagos!!

Our cabin on board the Beluga

Every morning the plans for the day were posted.

Elliot's Storm Petrels walking on water

Flightless Cormorant

Elliot's Storm Petrel at sunrise

Galapagos Penguin

Brown Pelican

Lava Cactus

Marine Iguana

Galapagos Green Turtle

Galapagos Penguin, thinking about taking the plunge

Marine Iguana

Sea Lion

Everyday we had the opportunity to snorkel. These photos were taken with my phone which was in a waterproof case. - not recommended!!

Galapagos Green Turtle

Penguin see from below!

Turtles were everywhere in the water - suddenly there would be one coming right at me - they are huge but not aggressive, but I did quickly move out of the way!

Lava Heron - (Striated)

Frigatebirds are thieves - they cannot land on the water so they steal fish from other birds - here a Blue-footed Booby is losing his meal.

Striated heron

Galapagos Penguin swimming by

The end of a wonderful day!

Medium Ground Finch (m & f) - note the much bigger bill than the ones below.

Small Ground Finch

Galapagos Mockingbird

Success - he got a fish!

A great commotion was spotted in the sea, the captain took the boat quite close. Tuna were feeding on a school of small fish and sharks were feeding on the tuna. Many Frigatebirds were overhead trying to catch the small fish as they leapt into the air. The very sharp fins are the tuna, in some photos you can see them leaping out of the water presumably to avoid the sharks.

Land Iguana

Lava Lizard

Sea Lion tracks over the sand

Lava

The Beluga is the ship on the right

Marine Iguana

Sea Lion nursing her pup - love the protective flipper over the pup!

Marine Iguana and Lava Lizard

Now that's a belly!! He must be the boss.

Wandering Tattler

Semipalmated Plover

American Oystercatcher

American Oystercatcher on nest

Lava Heron

Galapagos Hawk with a young iguana for breakfast

Galapagos Racer

Minke Whale skeleton

Galapagos Hawk

Yellow Warbler

Galapagos Penguin

Marine Iguanas swimming and feeding underwater.

Blue-footed Boobies

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Flightless Cormorant

Brown Noddy with chick

Brown Noddy

A group of ~60 Common Dolphin kept us entertained for quite a while

The fish we saw when snorkeling were amazing and such variety - unfortunately my attempts to photograph them leave a lot to the imagination

Swallow-tailed Gull

Brown Pelican

Wandering Tattler

Sallow-tailed Gulls

Nazca Booby with chick

Brown Noddy

Nazca Booby with chick

Lava Heron

Galapagos Dove

Red-billed Tropicbird - the only one I saw on the trip!

Bottlenose Dolphins - they came by late in the day and very close to the boat, swimming right in the bow wave so very difficult to photograph with my camera.

Bryde's Whale

North Seymour Island was the final stop before the airport. the island was covered with nesting Frigatebirds and Blue-footed boobies. The young Frigatebirds varied a lot in age and some couples were just getting started. Some were still flying with red pouches inflated or on the ground calling for mates.