Dan Suzio Photography: June 2024

Monday, June 24, 2024

Galápagos Diary, Day 2

Day 2, April 13: We meet some new species

Brown Pelican at dawn

First thing this morning we were greeted by a Brown Pelican riding on the bow of the boat. It posed for a few photos, then flew off to look for its breakfast while we went inside for ours.

Isla Eden

Our morning outing was another panga ride, this one along the rocky shoreline of Isla Eden. Shooting from a boat is challenging at best. The boat is in constant motion, side to side, forward and backward, and up and down, as the driver maneuvers to get close without crashing on the rocks. You can’t use a tripod or monopod because it would transfer the vibration of the motor to your camera, and the longer the lens you have, the harder it is to keep your subject in the frame. The best you can do is pick a fast shutter speed, set your ISO to the highest number you’re comfortable with, shoot lots of exposures, and pray to the god or gods of your choice - Nikon, Canon, Adobe, Topaz - that one of those shots will be usable.

Blue-footed Booby, Brown Pelican, and Marine Iguanas

But there’s no other way to get these photos, and the crew does a great job of getting us close to our subjects and holding a position long enough for everyone to get their shots. This morning we had our first encounters with several species, many of which will become very familiar to us over the next several days – Marine Iguanas, Galápagos Penguins, Lava Lizards, Galápagos Sea Lions, Nazca Boobies, and Sally Lightfoot Crabs – as well as Brown Noddies, Blue-footed Boobies, and Brown Pelicans. Lots and lots of Brown Pelicans.

The Booby Dance

I really should have practiced snorkeling.

This afternoon we had our first snorkeling session. The experience and skill level of the group ranges from a few avid divers and snorkelers to those who snorkel occasionally to, well, me. I’ve snorkeled a couple times, decades ago, without any problems, so my only real concern was that my wetsuit and mask were a good fit. I was completely unprepared for what happened next.

After just a few minutes in the water, some part of my brain became convinced that I couldn’t breathe, even though the snorkel seemed to be working fine. What followed can best be described as a minor panic attack – I needed to be out of the water right now. I swam toward the nearest rocks, where I was able to stand with my head above water. Monica saw me there right away and swam over to check on me. I felt weak and anxious about going back in. For a few minutes I held onto a flotation ring with Tui and another member of the group who was also having trouble, waiting to see if my mental state would improve enough to try again. It didn’t, so I climbed into the nearest panga. Unfortunately it wasn’t the one I had arrived on so I didn’t have my hat or sunglasses while I waited for the others.

I was surprised and disappointed by the experience. I hadn’t expected any problems, and, worst of all, today turned out to be our best opportunity to see iguanas underwater and I had missed it. Talking with Tui later, she suggested I had gotten into a condition where the tight wetsuit plus the water pressure makes you think you’re struggling to inhale, which makes you try even harder while not realizing that you haven’t exhaled. You can’t inhale when your lungs are already full. I’ll keep that in mind next time.

Our first wet landing

A wet landing is pretty much what it sounds like. The panga pulls up on a beach, where you take off your shoes, roll your pant legs up, and step into the water while hoping you don’t drop your camera bag.

We made our wet landing this afternoon on a beautiful white sand beach in Bowditch Bay, on the west coast of Santa Cruz Island, and I'm happy to report that no people or cameras fell in the water. For the next couple hours we explored the beach and nearby ponds, photographing Lava Gulls (the rarest gull in the world, with a total population of fewer than a thousand birds), iguanas, ducks, crabs, pelicans, mockingbirds, and boobies.

Lava Gulls

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Blue-footed Booby

Sea Turtle nest

Iguana tracks

Walking back to the panga it occurred to me that I was following in the footsteps of one of the world’s best photographers. I mean, literally. She was right there, twenty steps ahead of me.

Day 1: Photographers meet Galápagos

Day 2: We meet some new species

Day 3: Don't forget to preheat your camera!

Day 4: More snorkeling, more boobies, and our first snakes

Day 5: Eruption!

Day 6: Tortoises! Flamingoes!

Day 7: A trip to the Post Office

Day 8: Aw, poop!

Day 9: Imagining the past

Day 10: I need a break!

Day 11: The big city

Day 12: Iguana lips

Day 13: Lotsa lava

Day 14: Red sand, a mockingbird pedicure, and lizard sex

Day 15: Leaving Galápagos

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Galápagos Diary, Day 1

How long does it take to reach the Galápagos Islands? In my case it feels like I’ve spent most of my life getting there. As a geeky kid whose interests included reptiles and evolutionary biology, that remote island chain had an almost mythical presence in my mind.

In my teens and twenties, as my interest in wildlife photography grew to a lifelong obsession, I dreamed of one day photographing Giant Tortoises, Marine Iguanas, and Blue-footed Boobies. I also noticed a curious fact - nearly every published photograph from Galápagos was made by the same photographer. Her name was Tui De Roy and her photos were stunning. Over the years, those photos influenced and inspired my own work while at the same time adding to my desire to visit the islands myself.

But it would be decades before I actually got there. Each time I got serious about planning a trip I was stopped by a combination of the high cost and the feeling that whichever tour I was looking at wasn’t quite right for me. I needed a trip that was centered on photography, not luxury travel, gourmet meals, or even scientific lectures. Just get me there and give me as much time as I need with the wildlife. (It’s possible to visit Galápagos on your own - there are hotels on a couple islands - but you’ll still need a tour boat with a licensed guide if you want to see the rest of the islands.)

Blue-footed Booby

What finally made up my mind, I think, was a combination of being unable to travel at all during the Covid years and realizing that I’m not going to live forever. Around my 70th birthday I started researching tours and asking for recommendations from other photographers. One company that was mentioned frequently is called Galápagos Travel. (Who would have guessed?) Checking their web site, I found they have tours designed especially for photographers, where you’re shooting from sunrise to late morning and again from mid afternoon to sunset. The middle of the day, when the light is harsh and the animals less active, is for lunch, snorkeling, downloading photos, and maybe a nap. They also had the longest trips, with up to two weeks in the islands. Best of all, and the one factor that influenced my choice more than any other, was the name of the photographer who would lead the trip: Tui De Roy. I booked my trip for April 2024, almost a year in advance, and got the last available spot.

Day 1, April 12: Photographers meet Galápagos

The day started at about 4:00 am when our group was picked up at our hotel for the flight from Quito to Baltra, with a brief stop in Guayaquil. Our ride to the airport was a small bus that could barely fit the 15 of us and our luggage (yeah, photographers carry a lot of stuff). Once at the Quito airport we had a chance to start getting to know one another while waiting for our flight to board.

Galápagos is part of Ecuador but arriving there can feel like you’ve crossed the border into another country. You pay an entry fee and get your passport stamped, and then there are forms to fill out, luggage x-rays and inspections, and prohibitions on bringing food or plants into the National Park, which comprises about 97% of the land area in the islands.

Tui was waiting for us outside the airport, along with Monica Reck, a Galápagos native who will act as our official Naturalist Guide, trained and licensed by the National Park. It will be her job to help us understand the islands and make sure we follow the rules. A short bus ride took us to the dock, where we boarded two pontoon boats - they’re called pangas here - which delivered us to the Tip Top IV, a 125-foot yacht that will be our home for the next two weeks. Once we were all on board there were a few practical items to take care of: a general overview of the trip, a safety briefing and evacuation drill, and, of course, lunch. After lunch it was time to unpack and get our cameras ready for our first photo session.

At about 3:30 we all piled into the pangas for a tour of Black Turtle Cove, a maze of inlets and channels among the mangrove forest on the north shore of Santa Cruz Island. I don’t like shooting from a boat but for some locations and subjects there’s no other option.

Brown Noddies

Brown Pelican diving

There was a lot going on here. Brown Pelicans and Blue-footed Boobies were all around us, plunging into the water from as high as fifty feet in the air and usually coming up with a fish. The pelicans look a little clumsy, flipping around in the air and diving straight down beak first with their wings and feet splayed out awkwardly. It looks weird but in fact they are in complete control of their speed and direction. Boobies have a different approach, hitting the water at about a sixty degree angle and up to sixty miles a hour, looking like a Peregrine Falcon with their wings pulled in and back.

Pelican and Noddy

The star of the show was the Brown Noddy, a type of tern that has a feeding strategy unlike any I’ve seen before. When a pelican comes up from a dive it will float there long enough to drain the water from its pouch before swallowing the fish that it’s caught. That’s when a noddy will land on its head. When a small fish escapes from the pelican’s pouch, the noddy will grab it out of the water. The pelicans don’t look especially happy but they tolerate it.

Other birds we photographed were Lava Herons, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Cattle Egrets, and one lonely Tricolored Heron, several hundred miles outside of its normal range. In the water were Black-tipped Reef Sharks, Golden Cow-nosed Rays, and our first Green Sea Turtle.

I’d say it was a pretty good first day in the islands.