Galapagos 1991

 Annamaria on Monday

First a few introductory words about the photos.  David Clark took almost all these wonderful pictures on a trip he and I took in 1991.  He  was an enthusiastic photographer before digitals.  He preferred to take 35 mm colored slides.  Later, it became possible to converting his thousands of shots of our many trips into digitals. I jumped at the chance.  A company was offering to do so at a not so bad price. I sent them a bunch of photos from some of our most interesting destinations.

I bundled the slides, carefully. labeled by destination and date of travel, and shipped them off.  What I got back were 14 CDs with photographs in no particular order, all of them labeled as having been taken on 31 December 1903.  I can assure you that none of the pictures you will see here were taken on New Years Eve 1903.

Many of you probably have heard or read my rants about never making a bucket list,.  I say start fulfilling your deams NOW! This trip was one of those once in a lifetime experiences, the kind people often have on their bucket list.  David and I took it six months after I turned fifty and he was about to turn 55.  

We saw Galapagos before such tourism exploded into a multi-gazzilion dollar industry.  The boat we traveled on was only big enough for 36; on our trip we were 24 -two groups of 12.  David and I were the youngest passengers, more the same age as the crew.

Each evening after dinner, one of the lovely Ecuadorian guides gave a lecture on the island(s) we would see the next day.

The each morning and afternoon, we boarded a small boat that took us to see the animals and birds and flora of a unique place.

The most astonishing thing was that, because local animals did not see humans as predators, on those islands, the animals were not afraid of people.  We could walk very near them and they did not run from us.

Blue-footed Booby

Book nerd that I am, of course I was reading Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle as I traveled.  My good luck was that we went see this lake on the 147th anniversary of his visit.  

I love this photo of David.  I keep it right over my desk.  The tree he is standing under is a Prickly Pear Cactus, a garden plat of about two feet high anywhere else.

I loved watching the Blue-footed booby hunt.  They fold their

 wings, crash into the water, and catch a fish on their way up.

The frigate birds don't hunt. They harass a booby until it drops

its fish, and then the frigate catches it before it falls back in the water 

Of course, the Galapagos Giant Tortoise is a wonderful 

creatures to see up close.

A Vermillion Flycatcher stealing a ride.

Marine Iguana

When I say call in the Marines, I mean this guy!