GALAPAGOS DAY 2 - SANTIAGO AND RABIDA ISLANDS (20/05/09)
After a nights sailing we awoke to find ourselves anchored at Santiago Island. We took a panga to shore straight after breakfast and found this sleepy sea lion enjoying the early morning sun. 
A short walk along the coast from the beach where we landed brought us to long stretches of ancient lava covered in thousands of marine iguanas warming up in the morning sun.
Close up they are quite prehistoric looking creatures. Their diet of seaweed contains far more salt than they need and to get rid of it they blow it out of a special gland in their nose. However if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction it lands back on their head leaving this white crust. 
The iguanas were absolutely everywhere, you sometimes had to be careful not to tread on them.
A marine iguana seemingly oblivious of the large orange Sally Light Foot Crab sitting on his back.
Adam in his element.
Sally Light Foot Crabs clinging to the rocks. Apparently they are named after a famous 1920´s tap dancer for their ability to leap gracefully from rock to rock.
American Oyster catchers not living up to their name by eating small worms and never oysters.
Another species only found in the Galapagos are the Lava Lizards. The females have this striking red colouration on their heads to attract the males, although it is where they live, not their colour, that gives them their name.
A Galapagos Painted Locust.
We have some better pictures of this Galapagos Hawk but we decided to include this one to show the incredible amount of life on the islands. Just behind the hawk to the right are several marine iguanas, behind them the faint red dots are Sally Light Foot Crabs and in the distance jumping out of the sea is a Sea Lion.
This lava bridge was left after the collapse of a lava tunnel. The incredibly clear water was probably about 20 feet deep but the bottom was perfectly visible.
The Galapagos Sea Lion is only found on these islands. The main way to tell the difference between them and the Californian Sea Lions that also live here is their much larger eyes, but they usually only open them in the sea at night time.
A Lava Heron hunting for crabs.
After lunch we visited Rabida Island. The sand on this island is coloured red from the high iron content in the lava that once flowed here. The iron has since oxidized leaving the rock red from the rust.
Many Sea Lions were lazing on the beach.
This mother and baby showed no interest in Liz being so close whatsoever.
Uphill away from the beach the rust red rocks still dominated the whole island.
Adam Brown the new species of cactus in the Galapagos - please note it is not endemic.
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