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escapewindowIn the morning we went ashore at Cerro Dragon to see land iguanas -- we saw a few, but the highlight was probably both the arid landscape and the flamingos.
Later in the morning we went snorkeling by the cliffside to see invertebrates -- I saw coral, sea urchins, stars, a sea snake, and a sleeping sea lion -- others saw a manta ray, two octopi, and a swimming sea lion that passed right by them. Slightly jealous, but I'll live :)
After lunch Celso gave a presentation on Darwin. I didn't go kayaking, again, but I did go on a zodiac ride... and got some pictures, notably some distorted pictures of a ray.
The "What Darwin never saw" documentary was cool -- essentially, the Galápagos are well suited for noticeable evolution because there are multiple islands that have different climates and ecosystems that favor different traits, and there are fairly regular events where a large percentage of populations (finches, in this case) die out, favoring the traits that are best adapted for that island's ecology.
Champagne on the bow, though it got dark before we could circumnavigate Daphne Major. After dinner, however, while I was talking with Betty about which five photos I should submit to the slideshow, Helen called us out to the deck -- there were sea lions and sharks in the water, drawn to the light. We hung out for a long while out there, watching the dark forms of sea lions hunt and the forms of sharks swimming through the water, some turtles too. That was cool.
