|
|
Santa CruzDay 14 - 7th August 2013 |
|
Part 1 - Fish Market & CDRS
Return to Ecuador Front Page
We
left Isabella by speedboat for the 2 hour trip to Santa Cruz and arrived
in time for lunch and to watch the daily struggles at the fish market.
Police squad car in Isabella...
Police squad car in Isabella...
A lurid
Land Iguana statue near the docks at Puerto Ayora - though they are
closer to that colour than I had thought when I first saw it...
Fish Market in Puerto Ayora
The ladies and their fish prepare to repel borders...
The ladies and their fish prepare to repel borders...
Like a rugby scrum, the opposition lines up behind the hose...
Today's trophies
Here are some Brujo fish, but there were also Yellow Fin Tuna and various other fishy delights...
Here are some Brujo fish, but there were also Yellow Fin Tuna and various other fishy delights...
We tried
these at a barbeque in Puerto Baquerizo and they tasted fantastic, so I
completely understand the daily turnout to take any scraps.
A sea lion often comes and takes the top place in the pecking order.
A sea lion often comes and takes the top place in the pecking order.
It's
not a contact sport of course - though a pelican did clip me round the
face with its wing as it came into land, the pelicans and the
occasional Lava Gull or Frigate Bird are just there for the scraps or
any unguarded morsels...
Steady, steady...
and in...
Some of the scraps are too large even for a pelican to hold onto and a melee usually ensues...
A Frigate Bird sitting on a flagpole overlooking the market...
Biding its time...
Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS)
There was a little uncertainty whether it was going to be possible to fit in the CDRS with everything else planned that day and murmurs of mutiny were heard for the first time in over 100 years on the Galapagos. However we were able to visit - in truth it's not primarily set up for tourists and all the important work was very much behind closed doors. They did have Land Iguanas there though, which we knew would be our only chance to see them...
It didn't stop us looking for contained insects...
A sad addition to the Station's signage after the World's last Pinta Island Tortoise died here in 2012...
A fine shelled tortoise in the breeding centre...
Land Iguanas...
There
was only one Iguana in each of the two pens on show, I'm not sure if
they're naturally less gregarious than their marine cousins or whether
they were elsewhere in the facility undertaking the more important task
of breeding...
There were two sub-species here which they kept apart...
The wire mesh separated the two pens...
Galapagos Mocking Bird...
Marine iguanas by the road not far from the entrance...
