Darwin referred to the marine iguana as ugly and stupid...i'll give him stupid -- these beasts wouldn't budge if you trod upon them...but ugly, no, those colors are crack-a-lacking. The only marine lizard in the world, they can hold their breath up to an hour (as also reported by Darwin, a fisherman timed one by tying a rock to its tail and chucking it under).

The excited family having just arrived on San Cristobal island at the far east of the archipelago. That day we saw dozens of sea lions, blue footed boobies, frigate birds, lava lizards, and marine iguanas. Liam and Marcus were absolutely crazed. Thankfully, Liam had a healthy fear of the bull sea lion and gave them a relatively wide berth. A playful female chased Liam and Marcus for 20 feet or so, much to our amusement.

The lovely and graceful frigatebird. This one is a male -- he inflates that red gobbler under his chin to a baloon's size when he is looking for female company. He also likes to steal other seabird's food "on the wing". A wingspan of 6 feet or so.