Photo Gallery
Photos by Rich Hoyer unless otherwise noted
Most tours of the Galapagos are boat-based. Our home is the Reina Silvia, one of the nicest small boats in the Galapagos…
…with a dining room next to the full bar…
Photo: Inca
…and a cozy reading room with a library of natural history books.
Photo: Inca
The cabins have comfortable upper and lower berths, each an oversized 4 ft x 6.6 ft., except for…
…the owner’s suite which features a king-sized bed in a larger cabin.
There is, of course, a lot of water to traverse but we do most of it at night…
…waking up each morning in a new locale…
…to commune with the likes of Swallow-tailed Gull, an endemic to the Galapagos and one of the world’s most beautiful larids…
…Flightless Cormorant, the only flightless member of the family…
…and the stunning Waved Albatross.
One of the delights of the Galapagos is how tame all the creatures are. Here we approach Great Frigatebirds in full display…
…and they just ignore us.
The same is true for Nacza and…
…Red-footed-Boobies…
…and for small birds such as Galapagos Flycatcher which often approach within arm’s length.
Birds aren’t the only unconcerned creatures. Land Iguanas are equally relaxed…
…as are the celebrated Marine Iguanas.
…and Land Tortoises too, although the tortoises’s powers of rapid dispersion are admittedly limited.
Some of the landscapes are quite stark in their beauty as new lava has yet to support plants…
…but some of are just stunning; here a view of Bartolome.
The middle elevations of the islands are covered in a deciduous tropical short forest, home to many of Darwin’s famous finches, as well as flycatchers and mockingbirds including…
…Large Ground-Finches here showing off its enormous seed-cracking bill…
…Medium Ground-Finch, the Mamma Bear of the ground-finch trio…
…and the more common (and exceedingly tame) Small Ground-Finch.
The highest elevations see frequent light drizzle, enough to support lush epiphytic growth and provide habitat for some of the scarcer finches, such as…
…this Woodpecker Finch, with its distinctive bill shape.
Common Cactus-Finch, here taking advantage of the water stored up in the cactus pads, occurs at a much lower, drier elevation
We’ll walk on many islands, past breeding birds (see the boobies just ahead of the lead person)…
..and up rocky faces; here “Prince William’s” steps on Genovesa Island takes one to the Wedge-rumped Storm Petrel colony. The bay below is just one of many places offering excellent snorkeling opportunities.
There are of course many picturesque beaches we can wander, some of which are home to breeding sea turtles…
…and dozing sea lions…
…and curious mockingbirds, in this case Espanola Mockingbird.
We’ll look at all things natural such as this flower, the endemic melastome Miconia robinsoniana…
..and this cheerful Cordia luteola which brighten up the landscape even during the midst of the dry season.
We’ll certainly see the delightful Sally Lightfoot crabs, endemic to the Galapagos…
…and this Lava Lizard, a female from Isabela Island.
There is even at least one endemic butterfly, the Galapagos Blue.
We’ll take a one-day excursion at the end to see San Cristóbal Mockingbird, thereby also visiting the easternmost island.
On our extension, we’ll also visit the highest elevations of Santa Cruz is the mist-drenched Miconia-fern habitat, home to Galapagos Rail and nesting area of Galapagos Petrel.