This morning was a hike on the west side of Santiago through the tide pools.
They were very colourful with pretty blue water and green algae and red crabs.
In one place there was a bridge and a curved section that was empty when the waves went out.
But full when the waves came in, terrifying the crabbies.
We saw a pretty flower.
We also saw one of the “thingies that runs along the beach”.
We saw many marine iguanas.
This one is eating. He scrapes the algae off of the rocks with his teeth.
They use the side of their face to get in close.
Sometimes they soak in the tide pools to regulate their body temperature.
There were lots of galapagos doves. They are kind of pretty, for pigeons.
We also came across a moulting crab. It was foaming to lubricate itself to make shedding easier.
After he will pop out of a hole in the back of his shell.
And leave a case behind, complete with eye covering.
We found a little scorpion hiding under a rock.
He looks much more like a scorpion after he wakes up.
He has to hide under rocks so he doesn’t get eaten by the lava lizards, which are much lighter in colour here.
There were also fur seals.
Fur seals are also sea lions, but they have a different head shape and bigger ears than the galapagos sea lions.
And much more fur, which is why they were hunted almost to extinction.
They are harder to tell apart in the water.
One of the big galapagos sea lions was playing with a marine iguana in the tide pool.
He was holding him by the tail and not letting him swim away.
He kept tossing him in the air and trying to catch him again.
I think the sea lion was having more fun than the iguana. He finally escaped.
While all of the other animals are hard at work, the baby galapagos sea lions are having a nap.
Sometimes they have nightmares about escaping iguanas.
