Galapagos Cruise - 11 islands in 8 days

The trip is off to a grand start. Got settled in on the Millennium, organized the photo bag and then headed back to the island for a trip to the educational center. Great photography opportunities arose with beautiful flowers and a Cactus Ground Finch eating a Prickly Pear Cactus flower, head covered in pollen (photo in album). I'm learning early …

If I didn't have the photos to prove it, I'd think I was dreaming. Quite possibly one of my favorite islands this trip. The weather being perfect made it that much more magical. Took tons (and by tons I mean several gigs) of photos of sea lions, marine iguanas, nazca boobies and blue footed boobies. The icing on the cake was having a female …

The morning weather started off a bit on the dreary side which didn't make for spectacular photography, but that didn't stop me from shooting a lot of flamingo photos. One of my ''so close'' moments was during our visit on the island it appeared we had just missed a turtle returning to the ocean from laying her nest. There was also a false crawl …

Giant land tortoises, that is. Our trip up into the highlands was, again, a bit damp, but that will never stop me from having a great time! What interesting creatures these land tortoises are, and it doesn't take long to learn their body language. It's basically move or I'll run you over.

Walked through a lava tube also. Got some really neat …

Another successful day of photography! Not only did I get the usual band of characters -- land iguanas, baby sea lions, Galapagos hawk -- but I was able to photograph a Galapagos sea turtle while snorkeling. He was HUGE (yes, it was definitely a HE) and he was very comfortable in our presence. He even came close enough to me that he bumped his …

First stop of the day was on the beautiful island of Rabida with it's gorgeous red sand beaches. We then moved on to James Bay on Santiago island. The spectacular hike was overshadowed by my poor choice of foot wear. Though Teva sandals sounded like a good idea, the sand wore my foot arches raw. Tennis shoes would have probably been a better …

First stop -- Bartolome. This is where they filmed Master and Commander. If you ever wondered what it might be like to walk on the moon (with gravity) this would be the place to explore. It's most famous landmark is Pinnacle Rock. And yes, we did the cheesie photo pinching the tip of it. Also, nothing like seeing penguins in nature! They are …

Lobos Island was a great spot for some final photo ops before heading back home. Took one of my favorite sea lion pup shots there, as well as some more frigate bird and marine iguana photos.

Our arrival back at San Cristobal island met us with a surprise, and sadness. As we approached the dock we could see about 5 scientists/vets with a sea …