Hi!
Tomorrow we head home so I thought I would do a final wrap-up of the Flora Cruise.
The snorkeling just kept getting better. We were swimming with sea lions, sometimes as many as four of them within 5 feet of us!
We did a nice walk along a beach and saw this guy shedding his shell. The others are hoping to catch him at his most vulnerable and eat him - just a little crab cannibalism.
During WW2 the US established a base on Baltra (the airfield is now the local airport). They had to have barges to bring water to the troops since there is no fresh water source on Baltra or Santa Cruz. Of course once they were done they just left the barges behind.
Local marine iguana.
Lava Heron
Fresh turtle tracks. The sea turtles lay their eggs there just above the dune.
Here they can expect 70% of the 100-250 eggs laid to make it to the ocean.
Male Frigate bird showing off his suitability as a mate. The females were circling overhead - kind of like Tinder....
I found this hunk and caught him with a butterfly net! 💕
Land iguana
More sea lions
Cactus are very important to the ecosystem.
Today we were on Santa Cruz Island and visited the Charles Darwin Breeding Center. These are some of the many, many tortoises they are raising up for 5 years to be released into the wild.
This is a Saddleback Tortoise - their necks are long and their shells arch to adapt to reach for leaves due to the environment they live in lacking grasses or other low growing vegetation.
Funky cactus
Here the fish monger must guard against pelicans and sea lions stealing her fish!
On a wildlife ride we saw Eagle Rays just below the surface. Carsten grabbed the GoPro and got some great shots just laying off the side of the tender!
Headed home tomorrow - overnight flight. Ugh.
See you soon H- town!
Sheri + Carsten
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