9/8/2007 - Española Island and Gardner Bay - The Galápagos

After our afternoon at the Charles Darwin Research Center, we got back on board our ship, ate dinner, and turned in early anxious for the next days events. We sailed SE down to Española Island, specifically on the east coast in Gardner Bay. After breakfast we left the ship to explore the Island. The island is home to a variety of animals. Birds especially enjoyed the shore as it is rich with fish. We spotted masked and blue-footed boobies, frigates, gulls, darwin finches, waved albatross, sea lions, crabs, and marine iguanas. There is so much bird action here... I kept holding up the group while taking photos. This was such a fun place to hang out and shoot.

This is our ship, the Galapagos Adventure. Its 99ft long and has, I believe 7 guest rooms.


This is a marine iguana. The Galapagos are the only place you will find these little guys. Years of evolution has forced these guys to learn how to swim, and dive down to eat algae underwater.



This is a shot of Gardner Bay. Up the path a little bit there were thousands of marine iguanas sun bathing. They have to get their blood temperature up before going for a swim for food.


This is the famous Galapagos Blowhole. Waves slam into a cave underwater along the cliff which forces water up and out a shaft seen here. The water can shoot very high in the air, upwards of 150ft. You have to be careful around this thing with digital cameras! HA! Salt water mist doesn't mix well with electronics.


These little Sally Lightfoot Crabs line the shorelines in most of the Galapagos. They are colorful and fast little buggers.


Birds! Wow... the birds here were going crazy! There's tons of bird activity all over the Galapagos, and this area was no exception. The winds were high around the cliffs which prompted a lot of fast gliding. Here are some cool in flight shots from the bay.

Frigate Bird - Pirates of the Galapagos


Masked Boobie



Blue Footed Boobie


Galapagos Hawk


Swallow Tailed Gull


Waved Albatross


We saw many more awesome animals here at Gardner Bay. Check out all the photos from this awesome day trip here: http://photos.tallmanphoto.com/gallery/4536275_N9ih6#P-1-15

9/7/07 - Santa Cruz - Galapagos Islands

I'm going to skip over a little travel time on our Honeymoon recap. Once we left Peru we spent a night in Quito Ecuador. We got a hot shower, a nice meal, and took a plane in the morning to Baltra Island in the Galapagos. After landing we took a short ferry ride to the main Island of Santa Cruz. We took a 45 minute bus trip from the north end of the island down to the southern tip. We boarded our ship, "Galapagos Adventure". We settled in, ate lunch, and departed the ship for the Charles Darwin Research Center. This is a volunteer facility where research and preservation is performed on the galapagos tortoise and other local species. The afternoon was spend on a guided tour of the center and the nearby town Puerto Ayora. Most of the animals are kept in captivity, are taught how to find food and water, and released into the wild at a certain age. The first day was just a teaser for the upcoming days we would have roaming around the islands.

More images including some of the captive tortoises can be seen here:
2007-09-07 - Santa Cruz Island - The Galápagos Islands

Unfortunately we did not get a clear view of "Lonesome George", although we did see his leg and a few of his lady friends. Its quite an amazing story. I you do not know about Lonesome George I suggest reading more here! Lonesome George

Panning!

Well, its just about shooting season again for us. Before my weekends are filled up with horse shoots I decided I would have some fun and drive the piss out of my 2000 Crown Vic Police Interceptor. I attended an Autocross at Giants Stadium, organized by www.motorsportsne.com. The event was wet which made a heck of a lot of of fun driving! I'm pretty surprised I didn't wipe out on any of my runs. I did manage to get the ABS to lock up a few times which sent the car into a cone once. Anyways, when not on work assignment I grabbed the trusty 40D, 70-200/2.8L, and practiced panning! I'll be honest I haven't shot sports in a couple months, but the rust fell off REAL quick and I was soon nailing 1/20th sec panning shots. I had so much fun I'll probably go back in a week or two!