on to the penguins and iguanas...

so we left the Sombrero Chino island as the sun was about to set-

have I mentioned that at the Equator the sun rises at 6 AM and sets at 6 PM so they don't have those lovely long summer evenings we so cherish in the north... anyway - from there we tossed ourselves back into the inner tube like pangas and made our way across the channel to the coast of an adjacent island... there were penguins located on the cliff face there.

since they were in full shade at dusk and we were in the "always in motion" pangas the photo taking was a challenge- but here are some I caught on the fly- as the sun set over the cactus covered island-

the stars were out and again we could see both the southern cross and the big dipper looking at the sky in different directions- (you can see the southern cross in the right side of the photo)

the next morning - very early we were off to Rabida Island and we had some great iguana encounters there-

from the moment we landed we knew they were there- tracks everywhere showed their early morning forays to the water (marine iguanas)

the island was stunningly beautiful- a volcanic landscape that took your breath away-

this little pond area is where Phil spotted our first marine iguana-

you can see he blends in quite well with the surroundings-

here- the much smaller lava lizard also does quite a job at being invisible to the uninitiated-

another marine iguana (we saw several) made his way to the water's edge-

we walked inland- and came across brackish pools where water birds came to feed-

hiking up into the hills we found several land iguanas as well -

this one came out when our guide lured him with the sounds of prickly pears falling

he rolled the fruit down hill to break off the spines so he could eat it

a different one keeps to himself off the path-

when we finally get back to the beach and await the panga- we are entertained by a sea lion having lots of fun in the water-

when we get on the boat we must always leave our shoes outside so as to not track sand into the cabins- good idea and everyone gets used to the "on the boat shoes" and the "off the boat shoes" system- some guests even have multiple "off the boat" for wet and dry landings---

this would be (last several posts and this one) the most productive 24 hours of animal viewing during the entire trip (both here in the Galapagos and also in the Amazon) so I hope you enjoyed seeing these guys because the only wildlife we have left to show and tell are blue footed boobys (I don't count captive land turtles as wildlife....) but more on that later....