The first cruise that my husband Russell and I took with his brother Ethan and wife Brenda was a fantastic trip to the Galapagos Islands in October 2013 to celebrate my birthday. I love nature and it was heavenly to walk around many uninhabited islands and be amongst animals that were unafraid of humans. That meant that the animals did not run away when people were nearby. Indeed, a marine iguana inexplicably and aggressively launched itself several feet off the ground with legs akimbo directly towards Ethan as he was walking by. Perhaps marine iguanas like to nibble on tasty humans? Or they enjoy trying to scare the tourists?

 

This painting is of a Galapagos land iguana, Conolophus subcristatus. I do not know how big it was, but it was really large as adult males can get up to 30 pounds and 39 inches long. Their preferred diet consists of prickly pear cactus and they can live for more than 50 years.