Galapagos in El Nino 2015

Just got back from a 7 day cruise aboard the Quasar MV Evolution. First off, WOW WOW WOW! Like South Georgia Island (Antarctica) the animals of the Galapagos islands are just as unconcerned by your presence. Land iguanas walked over people's feet and a giant tortoise walked over to check out my knee....weird right? I experienced the same kind of behaviors with king penguins and baby elephant seals in the Antarctic. Above the waves and below visiting the Galapagos wildlife is something one should have on the bucket list.

Photography tour vs. tourist cruise
My fiancé wanted a luxury trip; I wanted a photography trip. We both wanted an adventurous trek. That led us to the crew of the Evolution because we heard they strive to get at least 4 activities in per day. And the MV Evolution is fairly luxurious. I would absolutely cruise with them again! As a photographer I did not feel robbed of time getting all the images I could. Our naturalists, and ship mates, were excited about the images I was capturing and became very supportive. I would advise telling people, on day one, that you're going to make your photos available to them online. That changes their attitude immediately. Having not taken a photography trip in the Galapagos Islands I can't speak to the difference. However, I can say my favorite part of the trip was the snorkeling and we tried to get two dives in per day. That was amazing!

Mainland Ecuador?
Yep, worth doing! I wish we spent two days in Quito. We only spent one and got to see a big chunk of it with our host. But, give me a tilt/shift and a tripod and drop me off in the historic district. I could shoot the architecture all day long. The Catholics raised many roofs that are worth visiting no matter your religious denomination. Do the tourist photo on the equator too. It isn't that exciting from a photography perspective, but your friends and family will find it neat.

What to pack in the camera bag
I labored on this topic just as any self-respecting photographer should! I wrote an article about it on my blog: What camera gear to pack for the Galapagos before the trip. That article is a lie! Ha! Well, it isn't a total lie, but I trimmed the packing at the last minute. What I did take I would probably take all over again. I am very pleased at how well the gear performed and the focal lengths I had available. I shot long 90% of the time.....really long! My favorite combo was a Canon 7DMKII with a 1.4 teleconverter and a 400mm f4 DO lens. Second to that was a Canon 1DsMKIII with a 100-400mm MKII. I took a 24-70mm f4L IS, but barely used it. I'm a long lens wildlife shooter and felt most comfortable framing shots that were far from the beaten path. I also packed a Think Tank Belt setup along with a Yeti Black Rapid, thinking I would be more mobile trying to keep up with non-photographer shipmates. I used that setup for 1 excursion while using a Think Tank StreetWalker Harddrive backpack the rest of the time. It was 30lbs, fully loaded, but very comfortable. If you're slick about checking in to flights the agent won't ask you to put your bag on the scale.

With all that said, how about some wildlife doing what they do....

Definitely a place on my bucket list. Nice captures.

Thanks JJ!

I forgot to mention why I put "El Nino" in the title. When we pulled anchor, from San Cristobal, our naturalist said we were out of season for seeing Blue Footed Boobies congregating and might be on the tail-end of Frigate birds finding mates. However, he also mentioned El Nino seemed to be having an impact on the animals' schedules.

We saw hundreds of blue footed boobies daily, sea turtles hatching, sea turtles laying eggs, masked boobies hatching, frigates going from the find-a-mate stage all the way into feeding months-old babies in the nest. The Humboldt current was supposed to be becoming the dominate current, kicking off the dry season, but the waters were very warm. It didn't rain once, but we had some cloudy skies. And I can't argue about the amount of sunlight nor the air temperatures. It really was perfect weather. And it sounds like that is due to El Nino.

I also forgot to mention the government-paid Ecuadorians, on the islands, went on strike due to their wages being cut in half. At first, this created a lot of concern as to whether we'd actually get back to the mainland and it almost killed our chances to see the giant tortoises. Fortunately, it gave us two extra excursions and a visit to a private tortoise reserve instead of the Darwin Research Center. Because of this I was able to get a decent blue footed booby diving shot, a sea turtle getting eaten, sea turtles swimming in the mangroves, flamingo close-ups, and the obligatory tortoise shots.

Great stuff! Love the frigate and boobie image,. and REALLY wish I had brought an underwater camera! Cool shark shot!

Poindexter wrote in post #17608940
Just got back from a 7 day cruise aboard the Quasar MV Evolution. First off, WOW WOW WOW! Like South Georgia Island (Antarctica) the animals of the Galapagos islands are just as unconcerned by your presence. Land iguanas walked over people's feet and a giant tortoise walked over to check out my knee....weird right? I experienced the same kind of behaviors with king penguins and baby elephant seals in the Antarctic. Above the waves and below visiting the Galapagos wildlife is something one should have on the bucket list.

Photography tour vs. tourist cruise
My fiancé wanted a luxury trip; I wanted a photography trip. We both wanted an adventurous trek. That led us to the crew of the Evolution because we heard they strive to get at least 4 activities in per day. And the MV Evolution is fairly luxurious. I would absolutely cruise with them again! As a photographer I did not feel robbed of time getting all the images I could. Our naturalists, and ship mates, were excited about the images I was capturing and became very supportive. I would advise telling people, on day one, that you're going to make your photos available to them online. That changes their attitude immediately. Having not taken a photography trip in the Galapagos Islands I can't speak to the difference. However, I can say my favorite part of the trip was the snorkeling and we tried to get two dives in per day. That was amazing!

Mainland Ecuador?
Yep, worth doing! I wish we spent two days in Quito. We only spent one and got to see a big chunk of it with our host. But, give me a tilt/shift and a tripod and drop me off in the historic district. I could shoot the architecture all day long. The Catholics raised many roofs that are worth visiting no matter your religious denomination. Do the tourist photo on the equator too. It isn't that exciting from a photography perspective, but your friends and family will find it neat.

What to pack in the camera bag
I labored on this topic just as any self-respecting photographer should! I wrote an article about it on my blog: What camera gear to pack for the Galapagos before the trip. That article is a lie! Ha! Well, it isn't a total lie, but I trimmed the packing at the last minute. What I did take I would probably take all over again. I am very pleased at how well the gear performed and the focal lengths I had available. I shot long 90% of the time.....really long! My favorite combo was a Canon 7DMKII with a 1.4 teleconverter and a 400mm f4 DO lens. Second to that was a Canon 1DsMKIII with a 100-400mm MKII. I took a 24-70mm f4L IS, but barely used it. I'm a long lens wildlife shooter and felt most comfortable framing shots that were far from the beaten path. I also packed a Think Tank Belt setup along with a Yeti Black Rapid, thinking I would be more mobile trying to keep up with non-photographer shipmates. I used that setup for 1 excursion while using a Think Tank StreetWalker Harddrive backpack the rest of the time. It was 30lbs, fully loaded, but very comfortable. If you're slick about checking in to flights the agent won't ask you to put your bag on the scale.

With all that said, how about some wildlife doing what they do....

These were a few of the ones I processed on the ship. I have more to get through. And here are a whole lot more photos if you're interested: http://poindexter.smug​mug.com …alapagos-in-El-Nino-2015/

Extraordinary!!