The Deletist

After our exciting morning on Urbina Bay and dolphin wrangling, we spent the afternoon in the Elizabeth Bay Mangroves. I’ve had the opportunity to experience mangroves in a number of different places and I’m always struck by the similar qualities between them. Quiet and still.  Peaceful and serene.  Something almost mystical surrounding the tangles of branches dipping low into the brackish waters.

We drifted slowly through the mangroves, paddling in some areas because the terrain was too delicate for a boat motor to power through. Hidden in the snarls of branches we spied the telltale brown fur of a sea lion, tucked away having a nap. Looking down over the side of the panga we could see turtles cruising through the clear waters and lots of fish swimming around.

A sea turtle swimming lazily in the Elizabeth Bay Mangroves.

A small cluster of penguins swam by. They almost looked like ducks swimming above the surface, except for the distinctive black-and-white markings. We also saw a penguin or two hanging out on the lava-crusted shoreline. It was pretty awesome to see penguins, cormorants, turtles, Blue-footed Boobies, and sea lions all in one area. I always associate penguins with Antarctica, cold, and ice so seeing them in such a warm climate threw me off, but in a delightful way.

A couple of penguins swimming around in the mangroves.

As we were departing, we watched a live nature documentary happening right in front of us. A flightless cormorant had found an octopus and was trying to eat it.

A flightless cormorant sunning its wings in the mangroves.

The cormorant must toss the octopus up and catch it in its mouth with the soft part first, tentacles straight up in order to eat. Otherwise, as we saw, the octopus fights back and wraps its tentacles all over the cormorant’s face.

Flightless cormorant vs. Octopus

It was pretty amazing, like watching two nature super-heroes battle it out. The two animals wrestled together for a few rounds before the cormorant triumphed and slurped the octopus down its gullet in a few swift, gulping motions.  Then he swam off like nothing had just happened.

We disembarked early in the morning. Another wet landing, this time onto a black sand beach. Black sand is sticky and gets everywhere. Just a few meters into the trail we spotted our first tortoise, a juvenile. We took our pictures from a respectful distance and then walked by, causing the tortoise to hide.

The only Galapagos tortoise we saw in the wild. This one was a juvenile and pulled into its shell as soon as we came near.

The terrain on this part of Isabela Island was definitely the lushest place we had visited so far. All the greenery, flowers, and humidity brought the insects along. Some of them were annoying, like the wasps, an invasive species. But I quietly cheered every time I saw Carpenter Bees buzzing around the flowers.

The varied landscape at Urbina Bay.

Birds flitted everywhere, including a Vermillion Flycatcher, a gleaming flash of yellow among the branches.

A land iguana, cousin of the marine iguanas, posed motionless under a tree. The two species share some similarities such as they are both vegetarian and evoke an image of something prehistoric and dinosaur like.   But the land iguana is covered in soft, muted hues to match the earth and foliage. The tail is shorter and more rounded, as this one is not used for swimming. This was our only opportunity on the trip to see the land iguanas. We were lucky to see three of them.

Land iguana, cousin of the marine iguana, in its native habitat blending in almost perfectly with the dead leaves.

Back on the boat we headed to a different part of the island for the afternoon.   At mid-morning we lucked out and managed to see a pod of dolphins swimming through the channel.  We boarded the pangas and raced out to greet them. They were intent on feeding and not that interested in us.   We rode beside them for a while before they raced off again. At one point a sea lion inserted herself into the pod and leaped about in a graceful imitation of the dolphins. She even made sure to look at us in the panga so we that we would also notice her.

It was pretty incredible. I decided to relish the moments and not take my dorky iPad so the image is courtesy of my mother. Besides, I needed both hands to hang on!

Mom took this pic.  My hands were busy holding onto the rope!