Today would be something I had looked forward to since booking the Galapagos tour – the day we would snorkel with marine iguanas. Where else in the world can you do that? That would happen at Fernandina in the afternoon. The morning involved a drizzly panga ride followed by a very nice snorkel with sea turtles, a lone penguin, and a cranky flightless cormorant.
The morning panga ride was not photographically interesting, but the geology highlighted the volcanic nature of the islands. We were at Punta Vicenta Roca, at the ‘nose’ of the sea horse that is Isabela, and island that we’d spend a few days visiting. Isabela is an active volcanic island, with 5 very clearly visible volcanos (2 are still active). The guides told us all about volcanic geology, but I honestly forgot the terms they used almost immediately. Tuff cones, Spatter cones, Intrusions…. I think the darkly contested outcropping in the picture below (with the panga in the picture) is a tuff cone. Tuff cones are made of cemented volcanic ash that explodes from vents when sea water contacts magma. The black rock weaving through the brown I believe is a volcanic dike. Spatter cones are just what they sound like, but it’d be another week before we saw those.
In contrast to the dreary and uneventful panga ride, the morning snorkel was phenomenal. At first we did not see much life, but as we moved around the sheltered bay we started to stir up sea turtles from the ocean floor, where they apparently were resting. I’d never given much though to how sea turtles sleep, but they seem to sleep on the muddy and/or sandy floor, and wake up covered in dirt. A flash of sand and mud and suddenly a turtle would float by us. Then another. And then another… pretty soon, we were overwhelmed with sea turtles.
Once the turtles woke up they congregated at the ‘turtle spa’. As you can see, they float around as the fish do their spa-related work.
There was also a lone Galapagos penguin, that we saw previously hanging out on the shore during the morning panga ride, that started swimming with us, however briefly. This was my only, fleeting, sighting of this particular penguin in the water. We’d see a few more penguins later in the trip. If you’re expecting large colonies of penguins, like in “Happy Feet”, that’s not the Galapagos. There are a handful of spots you’ll see them, and never more than a few at a time.
And then there was the flightless cormorant. This lone cormorant had been hanging out nearby the group all day. We got a good look during the panga ride, then he’d pop up in the water nearby on several occasions. You can see he’s kind of a jerk – nipping at the fish that were minding their own business. He went over and nipped at one snorkeler, then came right after me, first trying to get my GoPro, then trying to nip my knees. Take a look at that beak – you don’t want to be on the receiving end of that! I backpedaled as quickly as I could then eventually he dove down to the depths. He came after me a second time later. Not a nice fella!
Despite the near death experience with the demonic cormorant, we were jazzed about the great snorkeling, and excited to head off and see the marine iguanas in full force, as so far we’d only seen a few scattered about on the rocks here and there.
Here’s the thing they don’t tell you about visiting a marine iguana colony. It stinks. It’s really stinky. There’s iguana poop everywhere, and it’s kind of gross. And then there are the flies. So. Many. Flies. There’s really nothing to be done about it, other than perhaps wearing a beekeeper’s bonnet. But that wasn’t on the packing list.
But before we’d even land foot on stinky fly island, we would snorkel in the waters just off the colony. We jumped in just after lunch, and no iguanas. A couple of beautiful turtles eating algae, but the main event was nowhere to be found. We swam around in pretty heavy surf for maybe 45 minutes, utterly disappointed, before we saw the first iguana. And then they were all over. I attempted to dive down and get a closer video, but I was about 3000% buoyant, so I’d dive down about 1 foot then immediately pop out of the water like a cork. It was very neat to swim along side them, too.
The other thing that was quite noticeable is that even snorkeling you could smell the iguana poop. Which, really, is kind of the last thing you want when you’re snorkeling.
Back on board, quick snack and a shower, and then onto the mainland.
We landed at the pier, at the arrow just below the ‘v’ in mangrove. On the way back to the boat at the end of the day, the tide had gone out and we couldn’t use the pier, so instead walked down along the slippery rocks to the bottom arrow (where is it says ‘lava’). A baby sea lion (yawn) and the iguanas were around the corner to the right, but everyone stopped 10 feet off the dock and formed a photographer’s circle around a tiny lizard.
While everyone was otherwise distracted by the (admittedly adorable) baby sea line, I went around the corner to size up the situation. Here’s what you’re dealing with when trying to photograph marine iguana colonies.
Iguanas as far as the eye can see.
The iguanas are dark grey, with a bright white spine. Some of them do have color, but you don’t really see that if it’s cloudy – which is was for the most part. You can also see there is very little interesting background composition to be found. It’s photographically challenging, more so when you’re being attacked by flies. Just like on the first day, with birds all over the place and easily accessible, I found myself overwhelmed.
I did not give up, though, and kept moving around, getting on the ground, trying to find nice composition, swatting away the flies. There were 2 shots in particular where I knew I had a nice shot as soon as I hit the button. First up is this guy looking at his foot. I think it works quite well in B+W, upping the contrast, and bringing out the “grain”.
Nature gives me my model, life and thought; the nostrils breathe, the heart beats, the lungs inhale, the being thinks, and he feels and has pains and joys, ambitions, passions and emotions. These I must express. What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back and legs, with his clenched fist and his gripping toes.
-AUGUSTE RODIN
The second shot (really, series of shots) was near the end of the day. I found an iguana posing for me, and maneuvered down on the sand to put the only green bush on the entire island right behind him. I’m pretty sure it knew I was taking their picture, because it proceeded to shift into a series of different poses for me. I mean, look at the bottom shot and tell me he’s not trying to smile for me. A very nice subject.
The sun tried really hard to come out for a nice sunset, and we kinda sorta got some color. I found some iguanas on a rock and tried to pull off a silhouette. I took a lot of photos, moving around to get a good composition, but I’m not super happy with any of them.This one sort of works. I’m not sure why they don’t work very well, but I think it’s that the marine iguana has a very uninspiring silhouette, unlike, say, the cormorant.
A couple of other decent photos are below (one of those is indeed a baby marine iguana). Full gallery at the usual spot. Back to Day 3 or forward to Day 5.
