BLUE-FOOTED BOOBIES - A trip to the Marietas Islands

Here's Carissa Wright at the University of Idaho with her vacation report which included a trip to see Blue-Footed Boobies on the Marietas Islands.

Three days after our arrival, not sunburned yet but definitely wiped out by the constant heat, we bought tickets on a catamaran heading out to the Marietas Islands, about two hours from the Puerto Vallarta marina. The Marietas, the guide aboard the ship informed us, are one of only two places on earth the blue-footed booby can be found in the wild. The Galapagos Islands of Darwinian fame are the only other home to the gull-like bird.

Reaching our destination after two hours of cruising, we circled the islands in search of a place to drop anchor. It took careful examination of the bird-covered islands to spot the boobies’ distinctive powder-blue webbed feet, but spot them we did. Satisfying one objective of the excursion, we shifted our sights to the next.