Red Mangrove Galapagos Travel Blog

Photo Tip: Why Use a Polarizing Filter? (Video)

Bryan Haines — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:08:15 +0000

In the Galapagos Islands (which are on the equator) the sun can be very harsh, especially at midday. It tends to wash out landscape photos.

Making use of a small add-on, called a polarizing filter will improve your photos dramatically. Note: you will need a dSLR camera to use a polarizing camera.

As an example, we took a photo at Las Grietas. It was just before noon on the same day (see image below the video). The difference is huge: better color saturation and less (almost no) reflection. Check the video for more information.

Why Use a Polarizing Filter? Take Better Vacation Photos

Las Grietas: With and Without a Polarizing Filter

Polarizing Filter Before and After: Las Grietas

Variety of Filters, including UV and Polarizing

Image of filters courtesy of Ashley Mark Pomeroy

Learning About the Galapagos’ Sally Lightfoot Crabs

Dena Haines — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:22:36 +0000

I never would have described crabs as interesting or fun to watch, until I saw Sally Lightfoot Crabs while visiting the Galapagos.

Sally Lightfoot Crabs (Grapsus Grapsus) are a common sight in the Galapagos and are a joy to watch. They really catch the eye because they are bright red with a white/blue underbelly, and make a dramatic contrast against the black volcanic rock along the shore line. We saw them in large groups scurrying over the rocks in search of food. We also saw them climbing up the wooden poles on the wharf at the Aventura Lodge on Santa Cruz Island.

They have five sets of legs (ten legs in total) four sets along the sides and one set in front. The legs along the sides are very pointy and have incredible holding power. I watched a group at high tide holding onto the concrete surface of a wharf. The waves continued to wash over them but they did not lose their footing. They can also climb the wet slippery sides of rocks and easily scale the vertical sides of a wooden pole.

Their front set of legs have claws at the ends. It was very interesting to watch them use their claws to pick up little bits of algae and whatever else eatable they could find. As they find a little piece of food they pick it up with one claw and quickly put it in their mouth, while the other claw is busy doing the same thing. The claws are put to the mouth one after another, as one claw reaches the mouth the other is picking up another piece of food. This is done very quickly and looks very comical.

While I was watching them crawl over the rocks I was surprised to see that they could jump from one rock to another. It was also surprising when Bryan and Drew told me that they had seen them move across the top of the water. They said it looked like they were walking on water. I did a little reading about them and found out that their ability to move across the top of the water is probably where they get their name “Sally Lightfoot” from.

The adults are bright red and orange with a whitish-blue belly. They grow up to about 20 centimeters across and look kind of like large red spiders. Young Sally Lightfoot crabs are black with red spots, they take on more red with each new change of shell. I didn’t notice the young black ones at first because they blended so well with the black volcanic rock.

I’m glad I took some time to watch the Sally Lightfoot crabs, it was a great experience.

Weekly Photo – Galapagos Salt Lake Near Las Grietas

Bryan Haines — Sat, 12 May 2012 11:40:38 +0000

On the hike to Las Grietas (one of the coolest places you’ll ever swim) you’ll pass by a fairly large lake. In the rainy season, it is full of water. But in the dry season it drys out and the salt is harvested for a number of uses.

Learn more about the Galapagos Salt Lake.

Galapagos Travel Story: Zara and Ashray, Full Time Travelers

Bryan Haines — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:26:52 +0000

This traveler profile is part of our Galapagos Travel Story series. Have you been to the Galapagos? Please share your traveler story!

The Travelers: Zara Quiroga and Ashray

What is your blog url?

Blog: www.bkpk.me
Facebook: piggybackrideAZ
Twitter: @piggybackrideAZ

What’s Your Story?

We’re Ashray and Zara, an Indian boy and a Portuguese girl who started traveling full-time in September 2011.

Since then, we’ve been touring Latin America, having started in Mexico, passing by Cuba, Costa Rica, Brazil and most recently spending almost 2 month in this amazing country that is Ecuador.

We travel full-time but it’s not an activity for our pleasure alone! We have a travel website where we share inspiring stories, photography and videos of beautiful places, including tips, reviews and all sorts of content related to the world of traveling.

My Galapagos Trip

Galapagos Islands has been one of the trips we’ve been looking forward to the most, ever since we left our home in Dubai. Having arrived right to RedMangrove in Puerto Ayora, the WOW factor of staying at the magical islands could only increase!

We decided to do island hopping rather than cruise ships and so glad we opted by staying at such a confortable place. We did take day trips, including Floreana Island (beautiful black sand beach!), Isabela Island and other attractions in Puerto Ayora, such as Tortuga Bay, Station Bay and Charles Darwin Station – in fact, the latest 2 are 10 and 5 minutes away from the RedMangrove respectively.

You can even borrow a bicycle for free from the hotel and head to this sites on 2 wheels!

We are in love with the food served at RedMangrove’s restaurant and sushi bar. Breakfast included a lot of yummy options and what’s even better: you can start your day with a great view into the sea, savoring a heaty breakfast, while sea lions nap by your table and iguanas pass by as if they were in their own house. You don’t get such a cool morning in many places in this world…

The staff at the RedMangrove is lovely: they were always helpful, polite and very friendly, and this is a perfect complement to the great infrastructure, views, surroundings and food served at this hotel!

What I Loved About My Galapagos Trip

Our favorite part of the entire Galapagos trip was observing and interacting with sea lions! They are such cute creatures and, although we didn’t want to bother them, in one occasion we got “sniffed” by one of them in a playful way! We’ve been friends ever since…

I will keep in my memory those moments spent at RedMangrove’s porch with the blue sea as a background, sipping mangrove iced tea after a day out in the heat and watching two sea lions napping next to each other, like lovers.

Getting to the Galapagos Islands: Crossing Itabaca Channel

Bryan Haines — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:01:47 +0000

Traveling from mainland Ecuador to the Galapagos means you’ll be taking many different means of transportation. Landing at Baltra Airport, you’ll head across Baltra Island by bus to the dock.

From the dock, you’ll be crossing Itabaca Channel by water taxi. The channel is a very narrow section of water that separates the northern Baltra Island from Santa Cruz Island to the south. At its narrowest spot – where the water taxis operate – it is just 580 meters (0.36 miles) wide.

The red line shows the path the water taxi takes across Itabaca Channel

On the larger water taxis, as pictured, the luggage goes on top and the passengers are inside. Windows are open (no glass) which keeps the boat cooler and makes for great photos. The boats are very stable and the water is quite calm. As a result, you’ll experience a very calm and short crossing.

At the dock on Baltra Island, you’ll get dropped off by the bus. There is a shelter to keep you out of the sun / rain while you wait to board the water taxi. Keep an eye open for land iguanas. Twice we’ve seen the rare Galapagos land iguana here at the dock. They aren’t very energetic but they are fun to watch.

View of the Itabaca Channel from Baltra Island

The rain / sun shelter on Baltra Island Dock

Bienvenido a Santa Cruz (Puerto Ayora 42km) Welcome to Santa Cruz

The inside of one of the water taxis moving Galapagos visitors between Baltra and Santa Cruz Islands

The dock on Santa Cruz Island

How Is the Itabaca Channel Crossing?

The crossing is very smooth. I was able to shoot some fairly stable video – something almost impossible to do while hand-holding a video camera on a small boat. The water taxi on the Itabaca Channel is one of the smoothest that we’ve ever been on.

The trip across the channel is quite short. I don’t think it takes much more than five minutes once everyone (and all the luggage) is boarded. Getting everything loaded can take a few minutes longer.

The water taxis are public transportation is are open to everyone (tourists and natives alike). If you aren’t on a packaged tour, you’ll have to pay the operator. If you are traveling on a Red Mangrove package it is included and your tour leader will take care of this.

Itabaca Channel Travel Tip:

Don’t forget to have your camera out. You are in the Galapagos and you can see wildlife at any time. You don’t have to be on a tour or an excursion to spot some amazing Galapagos animals. You can expect to see Blue Footed Boobies, frigate birds and iguanas during this crossing. We also saw a number of other birds and some marine life. And the scenery is amazing.

Weekly Photo – View from the Deck of the Aventura Lodge, Santa Cruz Island

Bryan Haines — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:04:43 +0000

Imagine starting the day with a view like this! This is Academy Bay located in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island.

The photo is taken from the deck Red Mangrove’s Aventura Lodge. You’ll see wildlife from this deck everyday. If you look closely, you can see a lava heron on the boat to the furthest right. On the same morning as we took this photo, we also saw 3 sea lions (or were they seals?), blue footed boobies, pelicans and numerous sally lightfoot crabs.

You can even enjoy breakfast with this view during your stay.

View from the deck of Red Mangrove's Lodge on Santa Cruz Island

Galapagos For Kids: Lazy Galapagos Dragons (aka Marine Iguanas)

Drew Haines — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:28:18 +0000

Drew Haines is a young Canadian expat living in Ecuador. She writes the Galapagos for Kids series on Red Mangrove Blog. Learn about the Galapagos from a kids perspective.

I really like the marine iguanas; they look like dead dragons when they are just lying around on the beach. It’s neat that they snort salt, they do that so that they can get out all the salt they drink when eating the green algae under the sea. We saw a little group all piled on top of each other and it was so funny to see them snorting the salt through their nose!

But they also have predators. When people get near them they won’t even move, but when a predator that they recognize (like the Galapagos Hawk) comes near them they can really run. The Galapagos Hawk has it easy preying on nesting females. When we were watching a video about the Galapagos Islands it showed a Galapagos Hawk preying on a female marine iguana. And as the hawk was trying to catch the poor iguana, the iguana just kept on running. It looked like the hawk was riding the iguana. It was really weird: kind of sad and funny at the same time!

During mating season the males change color from a boring black to really, really bright colors of greens, reds and oranges.

They get together in very big groups, 20 or more at a time! While mom and dad filmed a little group of marine iguanas, this little cute finch came up on top of an iguana and started picking in between its scales! It was super cute and a little gross too!

If I Were a Marine Iguana, I Would:

Stay away from the dogs, cats and the Galapagos Hawks.
Always stay in my burrow while nesting and make my male bring me my food!
Jump out and scare all the tourists .
Let the Ghost Crabs and the finches clean my back!
Allow the Lava lizards to keep all the flies off me.
Be sure to always have my daily swim in the ocean with my little babies.
Have my daily sun-tanning on the hot lava rocks along with my fellow marine iguana friends.
Bring my umbrella when I tan, so my friends don’t get me sticky and salty when they sneeze on me .

So to me, the marine iguanas are funny, salty and cute.

I hope you can make it to Galapagos and see the marine iguanas for yourselves. (I think you will love them!)

A Salt Lake on Santa Cruz Island

Dena Haines — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:28:35 +0000

On our way to see Las Grietas on Santa Cruz Island in The Galapagos we walked by an unusual looking lake. It had a lot of algae floating in it, which looked kind of like large blobs of broccoli soup. When we asked Bolivar (our Red Mangrove Tour Leader) about it he told us that it was a salt lake.

Galapagos Salt Lake (during the rainy season)

I had never seen a salt lake before so I found it very interesting.

How To Use a Salt Lake

He explained that the salt from the lake is not used in a commercial way, but that during the dry season the locals come and get salt to salt their fish and coconuts. I understood what he meant about salting fish, but the coconut part intrigued me so I asked him why people would want salt for coconuts. He told us it helps the coconuts have more milk.

Bryan, Drew and I lived in a subtropical climate here in Ecuador for around a year. I noticed that when grains of salt were left on the table, they had attracted the moisture out of the air by the end of the day and turned into little drops of water. I found that interesting and I thought that maybe salt was used on top of the coconuts to draw up the moisture out of the coconut or to draw water out of the air into the coconut. We weren’t sure so I looked up some information on it.

Turns out I was wrong. Form what I found out, I think the most likely use is as a fertilizer. When salt is used to fertilize coconut plants they produce more coconuts and the coconuts have a thicker meat.

Before we walked by this salt lake we had not heard about any salt lakes in the Galapagos. We were happy that we got to see this one and learn a little more about the life of the people who live on the Galapagos Islands.

Weekly Photo – Blue Footed Booby at Playa Escondida

Bryan Haines — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:34:57 +0000

As we arrived at Playa Escondida (on Santa Cruz Island) we first landed on a outcropping of rocks where there were a number of animals. There were a number of blue footed boobies, marine iguanas and sally lightfoot crabs. The adult blue footed booby has to be one of my favorites, because of its blue feet (of course) and its empty-looking eyes.

One of the amazing things about the Galapagos is that the animals are generally unafraid of humans. I was able to walk within about 5 meters of this blue footed booby. He didn’t even budge, even when we left in the boat.

Construction is Progressing at the Galapagos Dive Academy (Video)

Bryan Haines — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:05:26 +0000

With a completion target of later this year, the Red Mangrove Dive Academy is progressing well. Last week, we were able to tour the construction site. The Dive Academy is located directly beside the Divers Lodge on Santa Cruz Island.

Learn more about the Red Mangrove Dive Academy.

In the video below, you can see a couple of pictures of the construction. Yes, it looks a little messy, but that’s how concrete construction looks. In photos, you’ll see that the 6 meter deep training pool has been constructed.

You’ll see a number of renderings of the completed complex. Once completed guests will be able to receive their PADI certification here.

Learn to Dive at the Galapagos Dive Academy

Street view of the Red Mangrove Diving Academy on Santa Cruz Island

Stay tuned for more updates. We’ll be publishing photos / videos of the Galapagos Diving Academy when it is completed.