San Cristóbal, 24 Sep 2017

On Sunday, Sep 24, we arrived at SCY, the airport at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristóbal. Here is a view out the airplane window as we approached the island:

San Cristóbal island from the plane
After the expected work through customs, we headed for the ship. The ship is named MV Origin, and it is owned and operated by Ecoventura. All of the ship-to-shore transportation was by zodiac, called a "panga" by the Ecuadorans:

Jill on Panga
We got a lot of hours of experience in these! Once on board, we got settled in and had a little lunch:

Jill and Marie at lunch
The ship was very nice, with large windows throughout the passenger areas. It is only a year old. After some discussion with our guides, we all decided to head back on shore to La Lobería, a sea lion breeding area (sea lions are called Lobos Marinos in Ecuador - Sea Wolves). After a brief drive, we started our hike toward the beach. We saw native Galápagos cotton:

Galápagos cotton
And our first of many Marine Iguana:

Marine Iguana
We also saw our first of many Yellow Warbler:

Yellow Warbler
It's a subspecies of the Yellow Warbler we see during migration season in Colorado, but the male has a prominent red spot on its head. The Ecuadorans call them "canario maría" - the Maria Canary.

We also saw our first of many (many) finches. I am not going to attempt to figure out what kind each of the finches is - some of them, you have to use calipers to figure out:

Darwin Finch

Darwin Finch






Once we got to La Lobería proper, we saw its namesake. Here are a few examples:

Galápagos Sea Lion mother nursing her baby
Baby sea lion

Mother and baby
We also saw our first Ruddy Turnstone:

Ruddy Turnstone
And our first Sally Lightfoot crabs:

Sally Lightfoot Crab

And our first of many Green Sea Turtles:

Green Sea Turtle
Here is, I think, a Sanderling sleeping:

Sleeping Sanderling (?)

We saw more Yellow Warblers:

Yellow Warbler

Yellow Warbler
Yellow Warbler

More Marine Iguanas:

Marine Iguana

Marine Iguana
And a cattle egret passing through:

Cattle Egret
Returning to the harbor, we saw what I think is a Lava Heron:

Lava Heron (?)
Still more iguanas:

Marine Iguanas
And a resting Brown Pelican:
Brown Pelican

We then took our Pangas back to the ship, where we had a nice dinner while we watched the sun set in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno:


Finally, there was a briefing for the next day's activities: a trip to Genovesa and various activities there:


We then went to bed for our first night on board.

Previous: Guayaquil
Next: Genovesa
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Location: San Cristóbal Island, Ecuador

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