More Photos

The male of this species has his own version of the old caveman technique of attracting a mate. Instead of beating his chest, he inflates this bright red pouch, flaps his wings and makes something of a cawing noise. The poor guy did his best to communicate to the female who kept circling around him, "PICK ME!" "PLEASE, PLEASE PICK ME!!!" Alas to no avail. She just kept flying by repeatedly. As we topped the hill we saw several other males pleading with her. At least while we were there, she just kept circling. Not interested, like the giant tortoise who was chasing after a female that wanted no part of him. No way. Have you ever seen a turtle chase? Let me tell you it won't set any land speed records. Amusing if you are not the male being rebuffed, but certainly not an Olympic event!

Look closely and you can see crabs clinging to the shore side of the lava rock so as not to be swept out to sea. There were dozens and dozens of them all along the shoreline. Government protects them, even though they were easily, if not safely, within reach one may not gather their dinner here. Another protected species on Galapagos. Yay for Ecuador!

Another beautiful sunset over the Pacific. How could one ever tire of this? Not sure which islands those are.

And an equally beautiful day at sea. The captain keeps warning us of "swells" in the ocean. Said swells cause, thus far, gentle rocking of the boat from side to side. Some of the ladies and I in needlecraft class are wondering if some genius bed manufacturer can't come up with king size cradles to replicate the effect back home. Wonderful sleeping!!!!

Our only stop in Peru was for refueling, supplies, and to exchange about ten or twelve crew members. Thought the refueling process pictured above interesting. Took better part of five hours. Nine industrious vendors had set up tents in a roped off portion of the dock and were very eager to have us come patronize their business - frantically waving woven blankets, knitted goods, hats of all kinds, etc. The first few hours we were not allowed to disembark. Finally after much pleading and no evidence of impending danger, we were allowed to go only to those specific vendors - not into town. I did not choose to do so but regretted it afterward as some of my crafty friends purchased some beautiful alpaca yarn. Right, I need more yarn. Not.