After a wonderful afternoon first day on San Cristobal Island, today our guests were very excited and ready for a new adventure in this oceanic archipelago.
We started our morning program on Española Island, at Gardener Bay. This location offers a lot of activities and opportunities for our adventurous explorers.
A few groups of deep-water snorkelers were sent out first, to explore our underwater marine life in the Galapagos, which is one of the largest marine reserves in our planet. They had such a wonderful time swimming and playing with endemic juvenile Galapagos sea lions. These marine mammals followed us the entire time in the water, making us feel very clumsy because they can rotate 360 degrees in less than a second. These marine creatures were just at their best.
A few other groups were sent straight to one spectacular white sandy beach, with a couple of hundred sea lions. This beach provides suitable condition for snorkeling lessons, photographing sea lions, and relaxing opportunities along the beach as well.
A third group was sent kayaking along the same area. They enjoyed some cliff formations with gigantic prickly pear cactus and endemic species found only on this island, and nowhere else in Galapagos. It was a very successful morning activity, followed by an Ecuadorian lunch aboard the ship.
This afternoon we went hiking. The visitor site is located on the same island, but in a different location. It has one of the densest populations of different animal species, such as blue and nazca boobies, Española mockingbirds, Española marine iguanas, Española lava lizards, Darwin finches, Galápagos hawks, and sea lions. But for sure the highlight of the hike was the waved albatross.This is a true oceanic species that makes the ocean its home. They come back to the Galapagos year after year during their breeding season, which begins in April and runs to the end of December.
So this afternoon we had a very special to walk among fearless Galapagos animals and a spectacular sunset on our way back aboard the National Geographic Endeavour. What a wonderful day we had in the Galapagos!
