Part III - Into the Americas: 23/10/2012 - Day 5

No need to stick your tongue out - it's an easy life chilling out in the sun!

What's Jumbo seen on the early morning Panga ride? Is it a
penguin, a marine iguana, a turtle or a sea lion playing
with a marine iguana's tail? You decide...

Tony fluctuated between the 'sofabed' and the naughty step
as we waited to reach the equator. Seeing a school of
dolphins helped the wait!

And the weirdest one of all - the sun fish a.k.a. the Mola
Mola (see below for more info on this strange beast)

Other Panga ride sightings - blue footed booby, the great
frigatebird with partially puffed out chest (an amazing site when
fully inflated for the mating season), lava gulls and Marie
with a penguin.

Watch your step!!!

Anyone for a swim?

Marie N.E. Iguana – a descendant of the dinosaurs or an interesting pen name? You decide. Endemic to the Galapagos, these fellas aren’t exactly soft and cuddly like the sea lions, but are equally impressive. Just careful where you step, as they are incredibly well camoflagued on the volcanic rock, and also have a tendency to spit saltwater out of their nostrils. Especially when you’re going in close for pictures!

Hanging out in Marie's domain

Love a bit of algae in the morning

Separated at birth (to coin a phrase – no scientific knowledge of the accuracy of this statement…) from their more colourful brothers in arms the land iguanas (you may see these later), they developed the skills to feed from algae in the sea, even with Mr C Lion playing with their tails and heat up on the rocks to cope with body temperature changes of 10⁰C when they literally chill out in the surf. Talk about blowing hot and cold!

Also an amazing snorkel - although we missed out on seeing the Mola Mola again (despite a desperate dash across a cave), the abundance of turtles meant we almost forgot about the freezing water. Almost...

Why only have one camera, when 3 will do? At least he's
identified the serial number of that nuclear submarine...

If you think this is big, you should
see the size of my..... other lens

Luis – international expert in espionage or keen nature photographer? You decide. Sporting 3 massive cameras on our first excursion, he landed the coveted position of James’ roommate, and claims that he didn’t hear the famous Balfour snore once. Talk about an advert for the ear plug supplier! Fluent in 5 languages, knows a joke or two in each (generally sexual, or sexist!) and a great laugh to be around. The less said about his ‘trunks’ the better…