21st/22nd May 15 - Galapagos Day Six & Seven
At last we meet a Giant Tortoise.
| Thurs 21st Ma 15 - San Cristobal |
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| Zodiac trip from ship in bay to San Cristobal - our first inhabited island. |
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| Sea lions blocking the jetty! |
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| Visited the Galapaguera where they are breeding tortoises for release into the wild. As they were such a good source of food - particularly onboard ship - about 250,000 were taken in the 19th Century. Now the population is down to 25,000. This a baby. |
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| Bit bigger |
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| Fully grown and huge. They can live to 150 years - or more. |
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| I think he must have been the model for ET! |
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| Passing the xxx rock |
| Friday 22nd May 15 - Los Gemelos & El Manzanillo, Santa Cruz |
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| Giant tortoises in the wild at the El Manzanillo Reserve |
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| It started wet and got wetter... |
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| The tortoises didn't seem to care. |
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| Boy, did it rain! |
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| The 'Los Gemelos' sinkhole |
| The zodiac ride back to the ship was pretty scary. There was a large swell and so we all got very wet. Then we had to jump at just the right moment between the zodiac and the landing stage on the ship. It was v dangerous but we all made it OK fortunately. But the foul weather meant the last afternoon trip of our visit didn't happen. |