The foam indicates that this crab will begin to shed its exoskeleton soon.
Swallow-tailed gulls spend most of their life flying and hunting over the open ocean. The main breeding location is the rocky shores and cliffs of the eastern Galapagos islands where the water is warmer.
The pups in the rock pools of James Bay at Santiago were particularly playful. This one indulged in Zen-like floating pose and snored.
Its giant pouched bill and enormous size (4 feet long with a 6.5-foot wingspan) make this bird immediately recognizable. As such, it is usually the earliest bird identified by visitors. Nesting year-round on most islands, they are usually brown, but adults develop bright white and chestnut head and neck markings throughout the breeding season.
Galapagos sea lions breed from May through to January. Because of this prolonged breeding season and the extensive care required by the pups from their mother, there are dependent pups in the colonies year round.
The red-footed booby comes in a confusing array of color morphs, ranging from individuals that are all white except for blackish on the wing, to individuals that are entirely dark brown. Some birds fail to fit neatly into any of the typical color morph categories, and many variations exist. Color morphs do not segregate; individuals representing several morphs breed in a single colony.
The crabs and marine iguanas live in a symbiotic relationship. The iguanas welcome that the crabs feed on their old skin.
Most of the scuba diving trips to Darwin and Wolf stop by at Seymour Norte, an extraordinary place for breeding birds, home to one of the largest populations of nesting blue-footed boobies and magnificent frigate birds.
I found this Galapagos green turtle while snorkelling at Punta Vicente Roca. The visibility was poor due to the sandy bottom and the green algae in the cold water.
The limelight may have been stolen by Darwin’s more famous finches, but it was the mockingbirds of the Galapagos that had the greatest early influence on his theory of Natural Selection.
These birds were busy with courting and they did not care about me taking scandalous pictures of their intercourse. The action was so hectic though, that I did not manage to take a single good picture when they were frantically on it. Only when they rested I was able to document their relationship.
The youngest and volcanically most active island, Fernandina, hosts one of the largest colonies of marine iguanas in Galapagos.
04–13 November 2019
Enjoy world-class diving with Josef Litt to encounter hammerheads and whale sharks at Wolf and Darwin Island, and also marine iguanas at Fernandina. Seven nights aboard the economy-class yacht Pingüino Explorer. Includes flights from Prague or a nearby airport.
Price: 135,000 Kč (approx. £4,700)
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