Dan Suzio Photography: Galápagos Diary, Day 8

Day 8, April 19: Aw, poop!

Galápagos Sea Lions

Well, this is a first. When I climbed into the panga to come back from our morning excursion, someone pointed out that I had sea lion poop on my shoes. I leaned over the side and washed it off in the ocean.

Other than the poop incident it was a lovely, relaxed morning on Mosquera Island. The sky was overcast, which softened the light and saturated the colors as well as keeping the temperature down. We found mother sea lions nursing their pups, a whale skeleton, and plenty of Sally Lightfoot Crabs.

An ex-whale

Feeding time

Snuggle time

More snuggles

Who is Sally Lightfoot, anyway?

Sally Lightfoot was the stage name of a Caribbean dancer whose graceful movements were recalled by early sailors when they saw the local crabs. Or not. It might just be a whimsical name given to the crab by Englishmen with a sense of humor, to describe how the crab sallies lightly over the rocks. Books and web sites will tell you one version or the other in about equal numbers. I'm skeptical of the first one. Can you imagine a sailor on an 18th Century whaling ship saying, “Hey Stumpy, do those crabs remind you of that, uh, exotic dancer we saw in Havana?” Yeah, me neither.

Sally Lightfoot

A Magnificent Friggin’ Bird

I’ve been saving that joke for just the right moment and here it is. This afternoon on North Seymour Island we photographed Magnificent Frigatebirds, and the slightly smaller Great Frigatebirds, in all their magnificence and greatness. The males inflate their enormous red throat pouches, shake their wings, and make a call that sounds to me like a wild turkey. If a female is sufficiently impressed they will build a nest and raise a family. Frigatebirds are classified as “kleptoparasites,” meaning they steal food for a living. They’re so aggressive they will try to take food from a chick’s mouth when its mother is feeding it.