After breakfast we all boarded the Zodiacs for a trip along the shoreline of Isabela Island. The island is the largest in the archipelago, and is home to a vast number of seabirds. We saw noddy terns, Galapagos penguins and swallow-tailed gulls. In addition, we encountered a huge colony of blue-footed boobies, both resting on the lava cliffs of the island and feeding at sea.
The blue-footed booby has a particularly spectacular method of catching its prey: it flies some distance above the sea, then turns downwards and flaps its wings to accelerate to speeds that can exceed 60 miles per hour. At the last moment before impact, it draws its wings rearward to optimize its water-penetrating shape and then plunges into the sea, often to the surprise of an unsuspecting fish.
