Española Island, 11/11/2024, National Geographic Islander II
Aboard the
National Geographic Islander II
Galápagos
Our day of exploration on Española Island was full of close encounters with its endemic wildlife. From 6 am to 6 pm our day was full of activities, with great opportunities to witness the magic of this archipelago.
Anahí grew up in a small house by the beach in the Galápagos Islands. Along with her best friend, she used to wander during the days around mangrove trees, becoming a different animal every day. She used to camp on solitary beaches, snorkel with shar...
Today our guests experienced Santiago Island. This is the Island that Darwin explored the most when he visited the Galapagos back in 1835. Darwin, together with some of the crew of HMS Beagle, camped on the island of Santiago for a week. While on the island, Darwin studied Galapagos marine and land iguanas, collected finches, mockingbirds, insects, and plants. Most of the species that Darwin collected were unique to the islands.
The sunrise was spectacular, yet a bit spooky. The thin fog spread across the surface of a glassy ocean, signaling we had come into an area of cold upwelled water. The lines of turbulence on the surface had all the terns, shearwaters, and storm petrels in a feeding frenzy. Later, at Punta Vicente Roca, the northwesternmost tip of Isabela Island, we followed the coast closely in Zodiacs. Fur seals, marine iguanas, Galapagos sea lions, blue-footed boobies, and brown noddy terns rested on the ledges. The afternoon on shore was marine iguana central and one had to watch where one stepped. Our outing was complete when penguins finally made their appearance along the shore.
With a very relaxing hike at North Seymour Island, our day began. We enjoyed a nice, breezy shore walk among a massive colony of blue-footed boobies and amazing views. Later on Rabida Island, we had a great snorkel excursion with a bunch of marine birds, in addition to a colony of sea lions. We enjoyed the uncommon landscape of the red island of Rabida, with its pronounced cliffs and a bunch of diving boobies.
