Better with friends – Stogan Stories

If you’re reading this blog, we are probably friends. (And if you like reading this blog and we’re not friends yet, we probably should be). Jay and I count ourselves lucky to have so many awesome friends, and on this trip we’ve seen evolutionary proof that friends lead to longer, healthier, happier lives.

Here are just a few of the exceptional examples we’ve had an opportunity to observe.

A Sensation of Sea Lions

I think these are actually called a colony, but whatever – they are sensational! They hang in groups, speckle beaches, and get awfully territorial when an interloper hones in on their turf. Thinking of taking a photo of a cute baby seal? Better make sure its parents aren’t nearby (a charging adult is not nearly as cute!). We loved watching heaps of sea lions and the occasional Fur Seal have each other’s backs.

Two’s company, three’s a crowd, and a beach full of sea lions is a furry family

An Inspiration of Iguanas

Apparently, Iguanas are serious cuddlers. The marine ones (pictured left) snuggle to stay warm and hang out in clumps. (Their warm and cosy communal living was surprising for a species that looks like the hunks of rock they lounge on!). Land iguanas (middle) are less into cuddling, but still have a lot of contact. (In this case I may have captured a territorial dispute, but let’s say they are frenemies since that’s a better fit with the narrative I’m developing here.)

In addition to the heaps and pairs of iguanas we saw snuggling in, this swimming pool full of them was a fun sight too.

A Tower of Tortoises

Some of our best sightings were our pre-breakfast walks. Our guide, Maria, was full of energy and seemed to know exactly where the good sightings were going to be. Which is how we found ourselves watching the fascinating mating practices of sea turtles. On land and at sea, the beach was covered in stacked pairs and others waiting to join in the action. It was quite something!

In general though, the tortoises were some of my faves. I could have watched the dome backed ones hanging out in packs by the pond for hours. This saddleback pair and their buddies (not pictured) were less ‘cute’, imo, but amazing to watch, nonetheless.

Just a smattering of these fascinating creatures!

A Calamity of Crabs

In spite of calling these clever creatures a calamity, they really were anything but. They hop from rock to rock, scurry sideways and dip in and out of every crack and crevice. It puts parkour to shame, and is pretty cool to watch.

Every time we thought there was a solo crab, it turned out there were scads of them nearby or popping up. Across the rocks, and all over the beach, and into every little air bubble in the sand. No matter where we looked, we got crabs.

Sally Lightfoot Crabs. They were certainly light on their feet!

A Flapping of Flamingoes

I won’t wax on too long about this one, but I could! This was another one of our pre-breakfast walks, and it was the coolest. Even our amazingly experienced guide had only seen Flamingoes doing their mating dance once before in her 30 years guiding. We felt insanely lucky to get to see it.

Our group of 16 walked the otherwise abandoned beach and watched the Flamingoes chirp, flap and flutter for our cameras (and also for potential mates). This will likely be the most pronounced memory of our time here. And also, great inspiration for a muppet movie!

A Pack of Parrotfish

Sure, this is technically called a school. And we did learn a lot swimming with them! These guys are pretty important around here.

First, they are a critical part of the ocean cleaning crew – you can see them constantly pecking away at the reefs. And, after they’ve pecked away at the reefs, they poop out white sand. That’s right, they make the beaches. Pretty cool stuff! And they do it as a team.

A Shimmering of Sharks

Another group that were appropriately cool as a school were these black tipped sharks. We had kayaked into an area full of mangroves and all sorts of wildlife could be found including tortoises, pelicans and all sorts of other birds. We thought we’d see a shark if we were lucky (we’d seen them snorkeling, but mostly their white-tipped cousins), but had no idea we were about to paddle through a veritable nursery of them!

There were groups of sharks everywhere we turned. And, if you look closely you’ll see that this tight knit group made room for a hammerhead pal. Truly, the Galapagos is a magical place.

A Batch of Boobies

If you’ve heard anything about the Galapagos, surely you’ve heard about its boobies. These birds are all over the islands, and on every tacky souvenir sold in the area.

It was pretty rare to see just one of these flappers. Instead, they often hung out in clusters on rocks, or dotted the skyline over the water. They would line up with military precision over a body of water, and then drop, beak first, like they were falling out of the sky. It was impossible to properly capture them divers-bombing into the ocean to catch fish, but I watched enough of it that I won’t forget it any time soon.

Check out their blue feet! (The red-footed boobies were unavailable for viewing due to avian flu)

A Posse of Penguins

We didn’t see a lot of these little guys, but the posse we saw was pretty cool. Easily mistaken for ducks, they swam around and it was only when they rolled over that you could see their white penguin bellies.

Apparently these are the world’s second smallest penguins (2nd to the Little Blue Penguins in New Zealand). We can confirm that they pack a lot of cute into a very small package.

A Parade of Pelicans

Parade felt like just the right word for these guys given what we saw at the fish market. It was a pretty choice place for these scavengers to gather and they were rewarded for their patience. Outside of the fish market, we’d mostly seen these guys solo or in small groups fishing. Seeing them as a pack parading around gave us a chance to really study what has become one of my favourite birds (of note, it’s a short list given birds aren’t really my favourite to start with).

Check out the guy looking like he’s smuggling a pair of pants in his neck – and the lively ecosystem of non-pelican friends.

A Fright of Frigates

By contrast, these guys were less my favourite. Sure, super cool to watch with their swallow-tails up in the sky. But as they swoop towards us, I have little confidence of not being pieced through the heart or having my jugular sliced by their pointy peaks. Yes, these are some of my totally founded fears about flying animals.

From a distance, 8/10.

Red breasted frigate – not exactly the same, but I didn’t have anywhere to share this one!

Solitario Jorge: A cautionary tale

In spite of the benefits of communal animal life, some creatures are just destined for solitude, like this guy here (the one on the left). Solitario Jorge is a Galapagos legend, and the last of his species. He couldn’t settle on a mate, never reproduced, and is now preserved in the Charles Darwin Research Centre. (It took 4 years to get him embalmed!) Apparently he’s seen as a sign of hope, but I saw him as a cautionary tale: find your people, or spend forever in a chilly box.

Of note, J would like to be preserved in an environment as cool as the temperature Jorge is kept at.

A cackle of Canadians

Clearly, there are all sorts of natural advantages to life in the company of friends and family. Of course, this is true for humans as well! We’ve been lucky to enjoy this leg of our travels with some great friends, and it’s provided all sorts of advantages. A collectively well stocked medical supply, the near ability to string together basic sentences in Spanish, and of course, a photographer at the ready at all times.

No matter your species, life is better in good company.