Mexican Vacation: Marietas Islands

Las Marietas Islands are a wildlife sanctuary and Marine reserve that feature underwater caves flourishing with sea life. This is where we drop anchor, Play, Snorkel, Paddle board, Cave explore, Relax & See the Blue footed Boobies, whose habitat is located on our islands and only one other place in the world – The Galapagos Islands. Mid-December thru Mid-March is prime season for Whale Watching and spotting dolphins, Manta rays & sea turtles.

Blue-footed booby which are only located in a couple places in the world and this is one of them. They are also on decline. The natural breeding habitats of the blue-footed booby are the tropical and subtropical islands of the Pacific Ocean. It can be found from the Gulf of California down along the western coasts of Central and South America down to Peru. Approximately one half of all breeding pairs nest on the Galápagos Islands. Its diet mainly consists of fish, which it obtains by diving and sometimes swimming underwater in search of its prey. It sometimes hunts alone, but usually hunts in groups.

The name booby comes from the Spanish word bobo (“stupid”, “fool”, or “clown”) because the blue-footed booby is, like other seabirds, clumsy on land. They are also regarded as foolish for their apparent fearlessness of humans.

The blue color of the blue-footed booby’s webbed feet comes from carotenoid pigments obtained from its diet of fresh fish. Carotenoids act as antioxidants and stimulants for the blue-footed booby’s immune function, suggesting that carotenoid-pigmentation is an indicator of an individual’s immunological state. Blue feet also indicate the current health condition of a booby.

It is one of six species of the genus Sula – known as boobies. It is easily recognizable by its distinctive bright blue feet, which is a sexually selected trait. Males display their feet in an elaborate mating ritual by lifting them up and down while strutting before the female. The female is slightly larger than the male and can measure up to 90 cm (35 in) long with a wingspan of up to 1.5 m (5 ft).

After we went to the caves and cavern we had lunch on the boat and during these couple of hours we saw the most amazing thing (it was on my bucket list) watching Whales breaching

Half smile as it would be so much better if Derek could have enjoyed this – however he shared with me later that he has already seen Humpbacks Breaching and also noted that this means we will just have to come back!