On our final day of the cruise, we were up early for a visit to Mosquera Island. It is small, with a beautiful beach. The largest group of sea lions we encountered on the trip lazed on the sand or in the vegetation. The lighting was gorgeous--the benefit of the early embarkment. Sometimes photography was more difficult in the harsh, mid-day sun, particularly evaluating a shot in my LCD screen.
Some sea lions were still heading in after a night of hunting.
These are endemic Galapagos sea lions. Males can weigh up to 800 pounds, females up to about 110. They don't have a typical breeding season. Males protect a 'harem'. Females are free to choose a new harem, it is more about prime beach location. The males don't hold the harems for long--they feed very little guarding them, so they weaken and a challenger will take it over. Females give birth once a year, and rear pups for 1-3 years. They will often be suckling 2 pups of different ages. We witnessed this--a loudly complaining larger pup being shooed away as momma nursed the smaller one. (Nursing is a noisy, slurpy affair!)
Females can delay implantation if conditions aren't right. Orphans often survive by sneaking milk from other sleeping mothers. Older cubs are often together in 'nurseries', watched by one female while the others fish.
Sea lions can dive 650 feet and stay submerged 20 minutes or more. They usually don't venture more than 10 miles from shore.
My artist's inspiration. Colored pencil drawing of Galapagos sea lion (Staci Edwards)
A further stroll up the beach treated us with several sea lions bodysurfing.
Other interesting bits on Mosquera: Iguana u turn! (Staci Edwards)
Then it was back on the Guantanamera to finish packing up, and disembark. Goodbyes. I won't go into that--I had grown fond of everyone!
Logistically, our only option was to ride back to the Baltra airport with the group. From there my husband and I and two others from the boat, who were staying on the islands longer, traveled together to Puerto Ayora. This is one of the times you will thank yourself for having less luggage. Transfer off the boat. Take a bus to the airport. Take a bus to the ferry. Take the ferry. Take a cab or ride the bus. Each time you are transferring your luggage. We caught a cab and were off! (You can take the bus. It's cheaper. But it also waits around until it fills up. And there are stops to endure, and we were hot and tired and splitting the cab four ways was $5 each. Not bad.) All the cabs on the island are pickup trucks or vans. We had a truck, and fortunately they had a cover to put over our luggage because, of course, it rained on our way over. The drive through the highlands is beautiful and green. The roads are being worked on, so some areas were smooth and others had potholes!
Next post: Puerto Ayora!
More photos of today on the album!
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
5 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.
Mary Warren
6 days ago
Jess was very easy going and answered all our questions. It’s not easy dealing with 6 people at once but she did an outstanding job!
Diane Foster
1 week ago
Kassandra and the Adventure Life team have been incredible! Kassandra was very knowledgeable and attentive to our asks while making sure we kept within our budget. This was our first experience with a travel agent and we were blown away by the booking/initial exploration service. We will use Adventure Life again.