Floreana Island
A fantastic day reflecting the great time of year that the ‘change-over’ season really is.
It started with the crystalline water-visibility during our panga-ride around Post Office Bay, enabling clear views of the green sea turtles, now in abundance in the waters of Galapagos.
Our snorkel around Champion islet marked another notch on the slow transition to the warmer, calmer waters of the hot season. Coupled with that was the abundance of fish, sharks, a ray and the reliable sealions. All these helped in surpassing the expectations of our snorkelers, glass-bottom boaters and divers!
The flamingos were mating this afternoon during our visit to Punta Cormorant. There appeared to be a few females sitting on nests on the other side of the lagoon and courtship in the center. The mating did not end for as we reached the flour beach at the far end of our walk, turtles filled the waves with their attempts to connect and separate. It was very peaceful sitting along the beach knowing that within a couple of hours the female turtles would be coming up to lay their eggs in a completely undisturbed natural habitat. Whilst this was going on, several of us were surprised to see a number of the Sally light-foot crabs, Grapsus grapsus, partaking in acts of cannibalism! The bigger ones were catching the smaller ones, crushing them with their claws (which is a form of external, mechanical digestion), and placing the pieces into their mouths. It is not uncommon to see this among crabs as they eat absolutely anything in the inter-tidal zone, acting as scavengers, omnivores and, as we now know, cannibals.
A fantastic day reflecting the great time of year that the ‘change-over’ season really is.
It started with the crystalline water-visibility during our panga-ride around Post Office Bay, enabling clear views of the green sea turtles, now in abundance in the waters of Galapagos.
Our snorkel around Champion islet marked another notch on the slow transition to the warmer, calmer waters of the hot season. Coupled with that was the abundance of fish, sharks, a ray and the reliable sealions. All these helped in surpassing the expectations of our snorkelers, glass-bottom boaters and divers!
The flamingos were mating this afternoon during our visit to Punta Cormorant. There appeared to be a few females sitting on nests on the other side of the lagoon and courtship in the center. The mating did not end for as we reached the flour beach at the far end of our walk, turtles filled the waves with their attempts to connect and separate. It was very peaceful sitting along the beach knowing that within a couple of hours the female turtles would be coming up to lay their eggs in a completely undisturbed natural habitat. Whilst this was going on, several of us were surprised to see a number of the Sally light-foot crabs, Grapsus grapsus, partaking in acts of cannibalism! The bigger ones were catching the smaller ones, crushing them with their claws (which is a form of external, mechanical digestion), and placing the pieces into their mouths. It is not uncommon to see this among crabs as they eat absolutely anything in the inter-tidal zone, acting as scavengers, omnivores and, as we now know, cannibals.
