S&J Scenic Journeys

Galapagos Islands - Part 4                       Marine Animals While the whole Galapagos Island trip was incredible, hands down the best wildlife experience of my life so far was the snorkeling off the coast of Fernandina Island.  The goal of the snorkeling that afternoon was to swim with the marine iguanas.  While I will admit some trepidation for this experience as the marine iguanas are creepy, I am so glad I went.  If you know me, you know that sea turtles are my absolute favorite marine animal.  The snorkeling began with more sea turtles than I have ever seen in my life and ended with an unforgettable up close encounter with a very playful and curious sea lion!  We will get back to this curious little fellow in a bit... Sea Turtles So I think the sea turtles are just the most graceful marine creature.  I love to watch them glide through the water effortlessly.  I am always respectfu...

  Galapagos Islands - Part 3                       Giant Tortoises, Iguanas and more. One of the things I wanted most to see in the Galapagos Islands were the giant tortoises.  We are also scuba divers and by far my favorite thing to see on dives are sea turtles, so I guess it makes sense that I would be most excited about the tortoises.  The Galapagos Islands were named after the once abundant reptiles.  Spanish sailors named the islands, from the Spanish word for turtle which is galapago,  due to the large numbers of tortoises that were found in the wild on these islands.   Giant Tortoise The giant tortoise population was once thought to be upwards of 250,000, however, the population had declined to as low as 15,000.   The population decline was due to the hunting of tortoises for food, loss of habitat and loss of food sources due to the introduction of feral goats, pigs, rats, cat...