Miscellaneous Sea Life

I think all sea turtles are endangered or threatened. What a pleasant surprise to see about 15 of them swimming in a small cove off of Santa Fe Island. These were green sea turtles, and they spent their late afternoon swimming around diving for food at the bottom of the cove. While most of the tour was snorkeling with sharks and rays (which were also visible from the surface), another gentleman and I went out on a Zodiac to photograph the sea turtles.

Another surprise happened on Floreana after seeing the flamingos. We noticed a set of turtle tracks going up the beach. You can see the indentations that look like bulldozer treads in the photo. The surprising part was that this wasn't supposed to be turtle breeding season, but clearly the tracks ended in a pit where we assumed rested a set of 100+ newly laid eggs. Turtles have no reason to come out of the water except to breed. About 1 out of every 100 turtles hatched will survive to adulthood, the rest succumbing to the multitude of predators lying in wait and starvation.

There is a bright red species of crab easily seen on the coasts of most of the islands -- the sally lightfoot crab. They like the lava and will scatter sideways if approached to closely.

Mick@micktravels.com