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Sun rising over
the bay on the northeast coast
of Santa Fe. Many cruise ships use this natural harbor as a safe
overnight anchoring site. |
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Most sand beaches in the Galapagos are occupied by sea lions,
where they rest after going to sea to catch fish, their main staple.
Santa Fe is one of the best places to see them in huge numbers and dive
and swim with them in the waters of the bay. |
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The prickly pear cactus or tuna as it is called locally, reaches
up to 10 meters on that island. As land iguanas are present, the
opuntias grow stems with the fleshy parts high up so as it cannot be
reached easily by the iguanas. |
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On the beach and among the cacti, lava lizards
are numerous. Females, as shown to the right, are smaller and not as
colorful as the males but have a distinctive red color around their
neck. |
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Santa Fe boasts of its own specie of land iguana,
which is larger than the others and
only found here. All species in the Galapagos,
marine and land iguanas are thought to be descendants of the Green
Iguana which is native on the South
American continent. Arriving probably on
vegetation rafts to the isles, the green iguana
in order to survive had to adapt to
a new and different environment
by radiating into two
distinct new species. |
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Nostrils of the iguana
and mockingbirds which are known to be very nosy and checking out many
things. |
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Mockingbirds are very common on the islands
and easily observed as they are fearless and come often close to you.
Like the Darwin finches, they are believed to have one common ancestor
and then radiated into four different species. |
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Bay of Santa Fe, which is rich in schools of fish and a good
snorkeling site. |
© all photos by the author except # 5,6,8 & 10 by A. Dust
back to
island & visitor site descriptions |
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