サンタ・フェ島ツアー, Tour of the Santa Fe Island

• 種の起源をイメージできる島、ガラパゴス
• Galapagos, the island where the origin of species is visible

サンタ・フェ島上陸観察ツアー, Tour of landing and observation of the Santa Fe Island

• 2015年9月14日午前、サンタ・フェ島上陸観察ツアー
• On September 14, 2015 in the morning: Tour of landing and observation of the Santa-Fe Island.

私たちはこの日も7時より少し早く朝食をとれるように頼んだ。いつも同じメニューだが、パンは暖かく美味しいし、ジュースはオレンジをそのまま絞る100%ジュースでこれも美味しい。桟橋からタブボートに乗り込み、小形ボートに乗り移った。この日は、（恐怖の）高速ボートではないので良かった。
We asked it to be able to have breakfast slightly earlier than 7:00 on this day, too. It is the same menu every day, but the bread is warm and delicious, and the juice is 100% just squeezed from oranges and delicious, too. We got on a tugboat and transferred to a small boat. We were glad because the boat was not the (fearful) speedboat.

(Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador, 06:51, September 14, 2015, FinePix F30)

 

桟橋からタブボートに乗り込み、向こうに見える小形ボート（定員20人？）に乗り移った。
We got on a tugboat and transferred to the small boat (capacity of 20?) over there.

(Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador, 07:49, 07:54, September 14, 2015, FinePix F30)

 

船のデッキに座っていると、向こうに疾走して行く高速ボートが見えた。高速のためボートの前1/3位は空中に浮いていた。
I saw the speedboat which ran at full speed over there when I sat down on the deck of the boat. About 1/3 of the speedboat-front floated in the air by the high speed.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 08:10, 08:35, September 14, 2015, FinePix F30, D810)

 

小形の船なので全体は狭いが、トイレもあるしソファ状の椅子もあるので安心して乗っていられた。
We were able to get on the boat in peace because there were a restroom and sofa-formed chairs, though the whole was narrow due to the small boat size.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 09:42, September 14, 2015, FinePix F30)

 

サンタ・フェ島近海のザトウクジラ, Humpback whale in the sea mear Santa Fe Island

船に乗って約2時間経過、右側にSanta Fe島が見えてきた。海面上をウミツバメが飛んでいた。突然、ガイドが”Whale!”と叫んだ。えっ？鯨？船室から急いでデッキに出て見た。残念、鯨はもう潜ってしまった。乗客は全員デッキに出てまた浮上しないか待った。あっ、浮上した。確かに鯨の背びれが見えた。
It passed for about two hours on the boat. The Santa-Fe Island was then visible on the right side. A Storm petrel was flying on the sea surface. The guide cried with “Whale!” suddenly. Oh? Is there a whale? We went out of the cabin hastily on the deck and looked at the sea surface. Regret, the whale had already sunk. All the passengers waited on the deck expecting the whale to float again. Oh, the whale surfaced. I surely saw the dorsal fin of the whale.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 10:05, 10:07, September 14, 2015, D810)

 

鯨が潜る時、その尾びれが見えた。尾びれの模様は個体識別のデータになる。尾びれの特徴から、このクジラはザトウクジラではないだろうか。
When the whale sank I saw the tail fin. The pattern of the tail fin is a data of individual identification. From the characteristic of the tail fin this whale may be Humpback whale.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 10:11, September 14, 2015, D810)

 

アオツラカツオドリ, Masked booby

鯨が潜った近くに白いカツオドリが飛んで来てダイブした。潜ったカツオドリが浮上した。魚を捕ったのかどうか分からなかった。写真をみるとアオツラカツオドリであることがわかる。

A white gannet came flying near the sunken point of the whale and dived. The sunken gannet surfaced. I could not see whether it caught fish or not. I see that the bird is Masked booby by the photo.

(North Seymour Island, Ecuador, 10:04, 10:31, September 12, 2015, D810)

 

ガラパゴスアシカ, Galapagos sea lion

Santa Fe島は小さいので特別の上陸地点は無い。小さい砂浜があるのでそこにタグボートで近づき海水に入って上陸した。
There is no special landing place of the Santa Fe Island because it is small. We approached a small sandy beach on the tugboat and stepped down in the sea and landed.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 10:32, September 14, 2015, FinePix F30)

 

ガラパゴスバト, Galapagos dove

アシカの寝そべっている砂浜の横に岩場が続く。その岩の上に特異な模様を持つハトがいた。ガラパゴスの固有種ガラパゴスバトだ。
A rocky place spreads out beside the sandy beach where the sea lions lie. There was a dove with a specific plumage on the rock. This is Galapagos dove which is endemic to Galapagos Islands.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 10:54, September 14, 2015, D810)

 

サンタフェリクイグアナ, Santa Fe land iguana

島の観察路を5分ほど歩いて行くとリクイグアナに出会った。この周辺で数頭のリクイグアナを見かけた。以前、North Seymour島で見たリクイグアナと大きさや姿は似ている。しかし、体の色などが異なり、この島で固有の進化をしたようだ。ガラパゴスのサンタ・フェ島の固有種だ。
We came across Galapagos land iguana when we walked the observation passage of the island for about 5 minutes. I saw several land iguanas around here. Size and shape resemble the land iguana which I saw before in the North Seymour Island. However, the color of the body and others were different and seemed to make peculiar evolution in this island. It is endemic to Santa Fe Island in the Galapagos.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 11:30, September 14, 2015, D810)

 

ダーウィンフィンチ, English: Darwin's finches

Santa Fe島にもフィンチがいた。小枝に止っていたが他の島で見たフィンチと似ているのでどんな種なのか分からない。
I saw finches also in the Santa Fe Island. I cannot identify the species of the finch perching on a twig because it resembles that of other islands.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 11:39, September 14, 2015, D810)

 

ガラパゴスマネシツグミ, Galapagos mockingbird

ガラパゴスマネシツグミがいた。これもSanta Cruz島とイサベラ島で見たマネシツグミと同じようだ。
There was a Galapagos mockingbird. This seems to be the same as the one which I saw in the Santa Cruz and Isabela Islands.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 12:04, September 14, 2015, D810)

 

ガラパゴスアシカ, Galapagos sea lion

お昼の時間になった。子供に授乳しているアシカの横を通ってタグボートに乗り込み船に戻った。突然若いアシカの群が浅い水辺を競い合うように泳ぎ始めた。これは若いオス同士の訓練だそうだ。
It was the lunch time. We walked by the sea lion nursing the child and got in the tugboat and returned to the boat. Suddenly, a flock of young sea lions began to swim so as to compete in a shallow waterside. This seems to be training among young males.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 11:59, 12:06, September 14, 2015, FinePix F30)

 

キイロアメリカムシクイ, American yellow warbler

黄色い小鳥だ。ちょっと白っぽく見えるけどYellow warblerだろう。
Small bird with yellow plumage. Maybe American yellow warbler, though whitish a little.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 12:08, September 14, 2015, D810)

 

サンタ・フェ島上陸観察ツアー, Tour of landing and observation of the Santa-Fe Island

船に戻ると昼食だ。ご飯、サラダ、魚の料理、オレンジジュースなど、日本人にとても合う昼食だった。午後からの予定はシュノーケリングだ。私達は未経験なので昨日、おとといと参加しなかったが、最後のこの日に参加した。救命胴衣を着けて泳いだので心配することはなかった。アシカのいる岸辺とウミガメの住む海辺で初めてシュノーケリングを楽しみました。この時の写真はありません。
It was lunch when we returned to the boat. The meal matched the Japanese very much with rice, salad, dish of fish and orange juice. There was a plan of snorkeling in the afternoon. We joined the snorkeling this day for the first time, though we did not have experience of the snorkeling and did not join yesterday and the day before yesterday. We did not have worried because we put on life jacket and swam. We enjoyed snorkeling for the first time on the seaside where the sea lion lived and in the sea where the sea turtle lived. There is no photos of this time.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 12:06, 13:30, September 14, 2015, FinePix F30)

 

ガラパゴスウミツバメ, Wedge-rumped storm petrel

船でSanta Cruz島に戻る途中、海の波面すれすれに飛ぶウミツバメを良く見た。ウミツバメは姿が小さく（15 cm）、しかもすばやく飛ぶのでカメラの自動焦点を追随させることがとても難しい。

I saw storm petrel often on the returning voyage to the Santa Cruz Island which was flying within a hairbreadth of the sea surface. It is very hard to follow the automatic focusing of the camera to the storm petrel because it is small (15cm) and flies quickly.

(Santa Fe Island, Ecuador, 14:08, 14:34, September 14, 2015, D810)

 

サンタ・フェ島上陸観察ツアー, Tour of landing and observation of the Santa-Fe Island

船は高速ボートではないのであまりゆれなかった。静かに休んでいられる。約2時間後、またSanta Cruz島のPuerto Ayoraに着いた。船からタグボートに乗り、Puerto Ayoraの桟橋に着いた。ここからはホテルまで歩いて6分程度だ。

The boat did not shake very much because it was not the speedboat. It was possible to rest safely. We arrived the Puerto Ayora of the Santa Cruz Island in about two hours.

We arrived at the pier of Puerto Ayora on the tugboat from the boat. It is about 6 minutes on foot from here to the hotel.

(Bachas beach, Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador, 12:17, 12:41, September 12, 2015, D810)

 

ガラパゴスササゴイ, Lava heron

Puerto Ayoraの桟橋に着いたら、コンクリート階段の所にササゴイが2羽いるのを見た。近くを通っても人間を気にしない。旅行客の多いガラパゴスにすっかり馴染んでいる鳥だ。
I saw there were two Galapagos herons on the concrete stairs when we arrived at the pier of Puerto Ayor. The heron do not mind human even if we pass by. It is the bird which adapts to Galapagos environment with many travelers.

 

(Puerto Ayora of Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador, 17:04, 17:08, September 14, 2015, D810)