The poor man’s Galapagos…

Now that I’m waiting at my gate in Chicago, I’ve got some time to tap this out with my two thumbs. Any spelling or grammatical errors are strictly their fault.

As I mentioned yesterday, my sister is dragging me to San Cristobal in the Galapagos islands. This will be the first visit for the both of us, but we have been to Ecuador before.

Back in 2017, before this whole Estabrook project got started, Anne had research to do in Ecuador, so we spent the summer in fabulous Quito, the capital. While we were there, both my sisters came for a visit, and when a stop in the Galapagos became impractical, Anne suggested we try Isla de la Plata, the “poor man’s Galapagos.” Instead of an hour forty-five flight, it’s just a short speedboat ride from the mainland.

So, that’s what we did, and here is some of the spectacular wildlife we saw.

First up is the amazing blue-footed booby. There were several just standing around on the ground, and a couple of times we even got to skirt around them as we strolled down the trail.

Then there were nesting magnificent frigatebirds, and that adjective is actually part of their name, not an editorial judgement on my part.

Finally, for the avian world, we saw one long-tailed mockingbird, which might not be what you would call “magnificent”, but is no less wonderful, I’m sure.

If you’re wondering to yourself, “they took a boat ride at the equator, where’s the sealife?” Well, here you go. There were enormous sea turtles in the water around the island, and here’s one of them.

Finally, we got to see a few whales on the ride to and from the island, and my sister Deb scored a home run when she snapped this pic witb her cell phone. What a sight, eh?

So, now we’re gonna go and see if a real Galapagos island can beat that. I’ve packed my camera, and I’ll do my best to keep you posted.