Española Island
After a real night of rocking and rolling aboard theIslander (I’m sure at times I was at a 45 degree angle in my bed) I awoke to a gentle rain around 5:00 a.m. By the time Lynn’s very civilized wake up call came at 8:00 a.m., the rain had cleared and the sun was poking through and it promised to be a wonderful day. Mike’s early morning ditty “My Little Blue Booby” woke up even the hardiest of partiers from the previous evening of “Evolution Past.”
The morning was action-packed with two full pangas of snorkelers heading out at 9:15 a.m. for a deep-water snorkel amongst moray eels, several species of sea stars, beautiful trumpet fish that looked like little miniature sword fish and several rays. The water was a deep azure with the sun shining through and the rock formations were spectacular. Several kayakers disembarked via panga for an early morning ride and reported caves that would lift up the kayak with the ocean swell and spit them back out with the ever-rising tide.
All of us ended up on a white sand beach that truly felt like we were walking through flour. We watched baby sea lions (no more than a few days old) frolic on the beach, cover themselves with sand and get chased into the sparkling turquoise water by the ever-barking, belching sea lion bull. Mike Beedell, brave soul that he is, actually got a face-to-face shot of the sea lion bull in the water as it came up to check out his camera.
Lunch, as usual, was a spectacular spread with make-your-own sundaes a popular choice for dessert at the end.
Surf’s up! As our panga drivers expertly guided us across crashing waves into a rocky shoreline the spray of the surf was deafening. Sea lions and iridescent green and red iguanas greeted us as we stepped ashore the lovely Española for the last time. A rocky trail to be sure but everyone was at their most adventurous for our last outing and final Galápagos sunset.
“Hush little baby, don’t say a word. Franklin’s gonna find you a mockingbird.” Plentiful they were as we were cautioned not to feed them any water. A rather strange request but as we found out from our ever knowledgeable guide that in past people had given the Española mockingbird water and they became quite aggressive in requesting it from their visitors!
On to Española air strip where the albatross vie for runway space. We were fortunate to observe the beautiful yet amusing courtship of the albatross as they clacked beaks and did their mating dance. Further along we were treated to a very unique mating ritual of the blue-footed booby as they lifted their blue feet and strutted to their own courtship tune.
Thar she blows! Not whales but the most stunning outlook over the roaring breakers as the surf rose up through a fissure in the rocks known as a blow hole. And if we hadn’t been treated to enough beauty to overload our senses this was certainly capped off by the “bird’s eye view” of a Galápagos hawk from a mere two feet away. The mood was reflective as we all snapped our last sunset pictures and we boarded the panga for return to the ship.
After a real night of rocking and rolling aboard theIslander (I’m sure at times I was at a 45 degree angle in my bed) I awoke to a gentle rain around 5:00 a.m. By the time Lynn’s very civilized wake up call came at 8:00 a.m., the rain had cleared and the sun was poking through and it promised to be a wonderful day. Mike’s early morning ditty “My Little Blue Booby” woke up even the hardiest of partiers from the previous evening of “Evolution Past.”
The morning was action-packed with two full pangas of snorkelers heading out at 9:15 a.m. for a deep-water snorkel amongst moray eels, several species of sea stars, beautiful trumpet fish that looked like little miniature sword fish and several rays. The water was a deep azure with the sun shining through and the rock formations were spectacular. Several kayakers disembarked via panga for an early morning ride and reported caves that would lift up the kayak with the ocean swell and spit them back out with the ever-rising tide.
All of us ended up on a white sand beach that truly felt like we were walking through flour. We watched baby sea lions (no more than a few days old) frolic on the beach, cover themselves with sand and get chased into the sparkling turquoise water by the ever-barking, belching sea lion bull. Mike Beedell, brave soul that he is, actually got a face-to-face shot of the sea lion bull in the water as it came up to check out his camera.
Lunch, as usual, was a spectacular spread with make-your-own sundaes a popular choice for dessert at the end.
Surf’s up! As our panga drivers expertly guided us across crashing waves into a rocky shoreline the spray of the surf was deafening. Sea lions and iridescent green and red iguanas greeted us as we stepped ashore the lovely Española for the last time. A rocky trail to be sure but everyone was at their most adventurous for our last outing and final Galápagos sunset.
“Hush little baby, don’t say a word. Franklin’s gonna find you a mockingbird.” Plentiful they were as we were cautioned not to feed them any water. A rather strange request but as we found out from our ever knowledgeable guide that in past people had given the Española mockingbird water and they became quite aggressive in requesting it from their visitors!
On to Española air strip where the albatross vie for runway space. We were fortunate to observe the beautiful yet amusing courtship of the albatross as they clacked beaks and did their mating dance. Further along we were treated to a very unique mating ritual of the blue-footed booby as they lifted their blue feet and strutted to their own courtship tune.
Thar she blows! Not whales but the most stunning outlook over the roaring breakers as the surf rose up through a fissure in the rocks known as a blow hole. And if we hadn’t been treated to enough beauty to overload our senses this was certainly capped off by the “bird’s eye view” of a Galápagos hawk from a mere two feet away. The mood was reflective as we all snapped our last sunset pictures and we boarded the panga for return to the ship.
