We woke up with the sunrise to visit Punta Cormorant and a wet landing took us to a Greater flamingo lagoon located just a little inland. There were mosquitoes, but it didn’t matter as the flamingoes were displaying really close to the lagoon shorelione. There were about 30 of them who were feeding slowly and calling from time to time. With the early morning sun it was a picture perfect location and our guests were actually thankfull for the early wake up call. From the lagoon we went inland through a gravel path until we reached a flour-white sandy beach where several female Pacific green turtles were making their way to the water after an all night labor of egg laying. They were exhausted by the effort and were reluctant to get in the water as several males were waiting for them to take advantage of them being tired. The event lasts for about eight hours and therefore females are unwilling participants as they must support the weight of the males during copulation. Larger males tend to drown the females, so selection has favored smaller males. I took the time to explain that the sex of the offspring is determined by the temperature of the nesting site. Females need 29.5 degrees while males need about 28 degrees Celsius.
After this visit we went back on board for breakfast so as to be ready to snorkel at Champion Island. We went for a Zodiac ride first where we spotted several Charles Darwin mockngbirds along the shoreline of Champion as well as Brown Noddies, Shearwaters, red-billed tropic birds and swallow-tailed gulls. Snorkelling was a success with young sea lions playing with us throughout the event.
In the afternoon we went to the barril post office and afterwards spotted red marine iguanas, great blue herons, cattle egrets, Pacific green turtles copulating, and a single Galapagos penguin.
Another great day comes to an end!
