Puerto Egas, Part I

I like being around water, especially when I'm taking pictures. But I'm not a huge fan of being in the water. You could maybe blame it on seeing Jaws in the theater when I was six years old. Or maybe needing glasses since I was eight, so when I went swimming I couldn't see very well. Whatever the case, it is what it is. So since I'd gone deep water snorkeling at Buccaneer Cove in the morning -- and seen a Whitetip Reef Shark, which was awesome -- I declined the option to snorkel again at Puerto Egas in the afternoon and instead chose to explore the coastline on foot.

The light was terrific -- clear skies, and getting late enough in the afternoon that the sun was no longer directly overhead.  That helped accent the textures of this dozing Marine Iguana.

Unlike the iguanas, the Sally Lightfoot Crabs were somewhat active.

I love their bright colors, and their eye stalks.

There's not a lot of color to Marine Iguanas.  But there is a lot of interesting texture in their heads and hides.  Black and white brings those details out.

I liked both of these views down the beach.  In the top one my eye tends to focus more on the water, while with the bottom one my attention is more on the layers in the rock wall.

Danelle loves the water, so she did decide to snorkel.  She was a little annoyed that when I saw this in the water, I chose to take pictures rather than trying to get her attention.  The iNaturalist community identified it as a Common Blacktip Shark, which are non-aggressive and typically don't threaten people unless provoked.  We can pretend I knew that.  She was also about 50 yards away in the opposite direction the shark was swimming.  And it looked to be less than five feet long.  At this point, I'm just trying to justify my questionable decision.

To my vast surprise, I saw a Galápagos Sea Lion that actually wasn't sleeping.

There we go.  That's more like it.

Then this big fella showed up.  And shortly thereafter, he also went to sleep.

Lots of these little Santiago Lava Lizards were running around the rocks.

An idyllic scene -- late afternoon sun, fluffy clouds, sparkling sand, and two sleeping sea lions.

Click here for more blog posts from my amazing visit to the Galápagos Islands!