Part Three: A Dream Comes True. Blue-Footed Boobies!

Blue Footed Boobies are one of the most amazing birds. Their unique blue feet make them seem almost magical. I don't even know how long I've dreamed of seeing a Blue Footed Boobie, but for years I felt I may as well dream of seeing a unicorn - I had just as much chance of seeing them!
But here are my photos, proof I actually saw them!! I loved watching these endearing little birds. Clumsy on land, Boobies are amazing fliers. They soar over the ocean until they find a school of fish. Then they tuck their wings and dive like torpedoes into the ocean. Sometimes entire flocks will dive at the same time!

These little chicks are protected from the wind and cold by the parents big blue feet.
I only caught a glimpse of the babies because the wind came up and the mother boobie quickly tucked them under her feet.
Male Boobies have a unique way of attracting a mate. Almost as if in slow motion, they lift their feet over and over again, whistle, and present little gifts to the female. These gifts are usually little twigs or pebbles, as if the male is showing they can build a nest... Which is crazy because boobies basically find a dip in the rocks and lay their eggs right on the ground. When a male catches the attention of a female, he becomes even more intent on his dance. He whistles, points his tail feathers upwards, and occasionally stretches forth his wings.........

My little 'point n shoot' camera has an HD video component to it. I was able to record the Blue Footed Boobie Mating Dance. I tried to upload my video to my blog but I couldn't make it work - So I unloaded my video to YouTube. I've added a link to my video. I hope you enjoy it! I am so excited that a "Point n Shoot" camera produced such fun home videos! Although you can hear our naturalist talking in the background about the boobies , listen for the sounds of the birds themselves. The male has a whistling sound and the female has a honking sound. Both the male and the female will arch their wings outward, move their feet up and down, and point their tail feathers straight up during the dance. Near the end of the video you can see a little male off camera that had been trying to get the attention of the female. He gradually moved further away, his dance became less enthusiastic, and he started to hang his head. Better luck next time, little guy! So sad!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLhOKC6ZDpI

The Galapagos Islands have two other species of boobies: the beautiful black and white Nazca Boobies, formerly called "masked boobies" and the Red Footed boobies. I didn't have a chance to see the red footed boobies but below are a few photos of the incredible Nazca Boobies. They are larger and heavier than blue-footed boobies, and are often seen on cliffs. They use the height of the cliffs to help them take flight.

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In addition to the boobies, we saw a lot of iguanas. There are two main kinds of iguanas on the Galapagos Islands - marine iguanas and land iguanas. The land iguanas are usually golden brown and the marine iguanas are black like the lava rocks they sun themselves on. The marine iguanas vary slightly in color and size from island to island. Some of them have green and red patches on their skin. Due to spending so much time in the water, barnacles attach to their heads, looking almost like armour.

If you look closely, the hill in the back of this next photo is covered with hundreds and hundred marine iguanas. This was a common site throughout the Galapagos. Iguanas were "thick as flies." Double-click on the photo to enlarge it.

The marine iguana below was checking us out as we prepared to hike along the path on one of our excursions. Tourists are not allowed to wander of the paths, so tip-toeing through the hundreds of iguanas was tricky! Our group carefully weaves through the iguanas. Most of them didn't even move as we tip-toed past. It was important to watch where we put our feet on all our hikes, especially this one!. We never knew what would be under our next step!

These land iguanas, pictured below were huge, and thankfully, vegetarians!!

Like so many other animals on the Islands, this little mockingbird was not only unafraid of us, he was curious about the video equipment that our ship's photographer carried with him....
This baby sea lion decided to take a nap right in the middle of the rocky path that led back to our zodiacs. More shots of Sea Lions, turtles, birds and Galapagos scenery to come in Part Four of my journey...........

Part Two: A Dream Comes True- Hip Hip Hooray, I'm on my way!

I can't believe I really have this ticket in my hands!
Galapagos: Here I come!
The Galapagos is about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador and takes a little over an hour flight time. Dad slept most of the way, but I'm too excited to close my eyes. My nose is pressed against the airplane window and I'm anxiously awaiting our arrival!
Taken from the window of our plane, these photos are my first glimpse of the Galapagos Islands. Instead of a sanctuary for a myriad of animals, it looks more like a military test site for nuclear blasts. Pretty desolate, don't you agree???
The plane taxied past these "shacks" on the way to the terminal. Despite the desolation of the scenery from the airport, I could feel the excitement building in my heart! I knew I was on a great adventure and I couldn't wait to get off the plane.

All visitors to the Galapagos Islands need a visitors pass. This $100.00 pass allows you to visit the Galapagos for a 3 month period of time per calendar year. The number of people and the amount of time they can spend there is strictly regulated. Here's my official card issued by the Ecuadorian Government.

After working our way through immigration and the Galapagos Parks Service, we traveled by bus about a mile up the road to a pier where we were taken by Zodiac to our ship. The park benches at the pier were already occupied, so we all remained standing while we waited for our turn to board the Zodiacs! .....
...Well, everyone but one person remained standing.... Mmmmm?? Could that be Lafe??
Yup! Who else but Mr Gregarious would make friends with the sea lions on his first day back to the Islands!
Here's a photo of our ship...Our first view of our home for the next week... It was a cloudy day but our spirits were up! Everyone knew great things were about to take place! Once on board ship, our suitcases were brought to our staterooms while we participated in the obligate emergency drills. Dad and I had staterooms immediately across the hall from each other. The next three photos were my state room... This is the most economical "solo" room available. Small, but perfect size since we spent very little time in our rooms.

Following are a few shots of the ship.... It was one of the largest ships touring the area, accommodating 96 passengers... Small by most cruise ship standards.....

This cruise was a National Geographic-Lindblad company; All the naturalists who conducted our excursions were highly educated and trained. They were mostly Ecuadorian born and spoke excellent English. No visitors to the Galapagos Islands are allowed to explore the island without a certified guide. Our guides were filled with exciting and interesting information. Here's a few photos of them...............

The shot below is me and Fausto, one of the guides. Fausto was not only a font of knowledge on land, he was a great snorkeling guide. He always made sure to point out exciting and unusual animals. This shot was taken at the end of our trip, in the Galapagos Airport.

Here's a shot of Dad with some of the Naturalists. They all loved dad. They soon learned he'd lived in Ecuador before and he spoke excellent Spanish. In fact, he surprised the naturalists from Guayaquil with expressions used only in Guayaquil. He was somewhat of a 'celebrity' among them.

Part Three will chronical more of our "on land" excursions...

Part One: A Dream Comes True.... Finally!

I grew up dreaming of far off places and exotic animals. I'm sure it was because the National Geographic magazine came into our home when I was young. I was mesmerized by the exotic animals and scenery that landed into our homes each month. Never could I have believed that someday I would visit some of those exotic places in person. The Galapagos Islands caught my eyes as much, if not more than any of those incredible places. Those giant turtles were amazing. I couldn't believe they were big enough for a person to ride on their backs! The blue footed boobies were almost magical. They might as well have been unicorns.......something imaginary, something only found in fairy tales. They seemed just as far away to me.

I think it wasn't until my parents moved to Ecuador in 1989 that I realized that the Galapagos Islands were a territory of Ecuador. Mom and Dad visited the Galapagos when their Nebraska friends came to Ecuador to see them, and wanted to catch a trip to the Galapagos as long as they were so close. The more I heard Mom and Dad talk of the Galapagos, the stronger my yearning to visit them became.

Well, last year I finally decided that I'd waited and dreamed long enough. I called Dad and said "I want to go to the Galapagos next year, do you want to be my traveling companion?" He said 'Sure, we should definitely do that some day." It was his usual, 'won't-commit-to-anything-too-far-in-advance' reply. But that wasn't good enough. I pushed for a commitment, a definite date. I knew if we didn't set a day right away, we'd procrastinate it forever. So we set a date, cleared our calendars and made our reservations!

This trip was everything I'd hoped and dreamed it would be, and it was even more special because I got to share it with my dad....

Dad hosted a party at our hotel for all the employees that they could contact that would like to get together for a little reunion. It was a great party and lasted much longer than we expected. Everyone was having so much fun, no one wanted to go home! It was a thrill to see how excited everyone was to see dad, and it was great to see Dad so happy.
On our last night in Guayaquil, before our journey home, Dad took me to his favorite restaurant. The owner remembered him and was really excited to see him again. I was amazed at the details she remembered about Dad, and Ken Morrison.

Unbelievably, the taxi driver that took us to the hotel remember dad and remembered that he drove a Cadillac! Amazing! In a city of 3 million people, what are the chances that he'd find a taxi driver that would remember him from TEN years ago! We were flabbergasted! But then, Dad always has had a way of being "memorable"!!


The first photo below was taken in the Guayaquil Airport. When we landed in Guayaquil, on our way to pick up our luggage, we had to go through a line where everyone was scanned by a thermal scanner. They were screening to keep people with H1N1 flu from entering the country.
Here's a few photos of the Guayaquil portion of our trip!

Notice the gloves and mask worn by the people working the thermal scanners at the airport.




This photo shows the results of the thermal scan. Each person was required to pause for a few seconds as they went through immigration.


Finally! I get to order my favorite Ecuadorian dish: Shrimp Ceviche!

I could have spent a week in Guayaquil just dining on all the Ecuadorian foods that I love!!!!

The photo below was taken at the party that dad hosted for all his former employees. He loved seeing them all again, and they we just as happy to see him!



Eduardo illustrates he STILL remembers the "Lafe Maneuver", also known as "how to squeeze the last drop from the bottle"!

The photo below was taken in the taxi in Guayaquil while we were stopped at a traffic light. This man was selling puppies, He brought one close to us to try to convince us to bring one home!

I have always been amazed at Ecuadorian construction. As you can see, bamboo poles supported concrete floors after they were poured until the concrete cured. Makes me feel safe, what about you????? :-)

We were delighted with all the positive changes in Guayaquil. The city was cleaner and there was a noticeable absence of old, beat up cars. Most cars on the streets were new, and in good shape. Ten to fifteen years ago, most of the cars on the road looked as though they'd never make it. The garbage in the streets was gone, and the city didn't seem to have as many people begging. All in all, it felt like Guayaquil was thriving. And it felt good to see the improvements.
Part two of our trip will show our visit to the Galapagos.