April 20 - 30, 2010
Well, I loved the Galapagos, but most of all I loved the Sea Lions. These are Galapagos Sea Lions, I also saw Fur Sea Lions there (which I read a book calling them Fur Seals, but techinically they are Sea Lions, and the book did say this. Our Galapagos guide said they were Fur Sea Lions, so I´m calling them that.)
The excitement of swimming with Sea Lions still hasn´t dulled in my mind. Be sure to read my hand written post!
My first afternoon I thought I would take a seat at the sea front and take in the scene, but the seat was taken.
Then I took a stroll and where they bring in the catch and sell it, I found the sea lions "helping out". Still, the fisherman seemed good natured about it.
Sometimes the sea lions were right in the middle of the path where you wanted to walk. They didn´t much mind any inconvenience caused.
Take a swim, laze on the beach. The reason while you can get so close to the sea lions, and other animals in the Galapagos, is that the Galapagos never had any land based predators to threaten them, and so they never learnt to be afraid on land, they also evolved to suit this. This threat is changing with feral cats now a problem and I believe there are also dogs on the islands.
The Sea Lion cub is so over it!
Group kiss (well the flippers aren´t long enough for a hug)
Another day in paradise just about done.
The Galapagos Islands are the most incredible living museum of evolutionary changes, with a huge variety of endemic species (birds, land and sea animals, plants) and landscapes not seen anywhere else.
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