Saturday February 16, 2013 Santa Cruz, Galapagos

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Saturday February 16/13 
Back to the highlands of Santa Cruz Island in the GALAPAGOS.  

Today’s photos are mostly of the Giant Tortoises (Tortugas) in the wild.  Also enjoy Lava Tubes, collapsed Lava Domes, and some Finches.

A reminder to see the compilation of Galapagos videos at  http://youtu.be/XV94dg2LhHA

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al 

We came back to the centre island, then explored the middle of it

The helmof the speedboat that brought us back

The highlands of Santa Cruz are home to these big fellas

The Giant Tortoises are abundant up here

They munch on anything green

and of course move very slowly

mostly in a straight line

Males have a long tail which includes their penis

He won't win any 100 yard dashes 

Lava Tube see http://trekity.com/leg-lava-tubes-galapagos-ecuador/

Lava Tube, see http://www.galapagos-islands-tourguide.com/galapagos-lava-tubes.html

Lunch is everywhere they travel

Huge Collapsed Lava Dome, see the man on the upper right

Unwanted non-endemic vegetation is taking over

This is basically the same as a volcano crater, see http://www.dijitalimaj.com/alamyDetail.aspx?img={1CDE9583-7B6B-4945-BC88-5985D98A4333}

There were two, very close together up here

The south end of a tortoise going north

Guides can tell the direction they are going by the point on their poop

They have right-of-way on the trails and roads of course

Mugging for the camera

He is a very pretty specimen

The Sony allowed me to get some good close-ups

A visiting fat Finch

Our guide was surprised that I got such good shots

Meanwhile he is still on the move

This guy posed for a bit

Another Finch joined the party

They pre-date the dinosaurs

They hiss because they expell air from their lungs when they retract

Another tasty morsel in sight

Paul McFarling, our guide, gives some size perspective

An empty tortoise shell

A poster at this trading post

Great carvings for sale

This carving was huge and only $300

Great assortment of beautiful work for sale