From the National Geographic Endeavour in Galápagos, 2/2/2011, National Geographic Endeavour

Today we were anchored at a place called Espumilla Beach. It’s hard to believe that many visitors from other places landed here a long time ago.

 

 The rain at this time of the year can make you believe that nothing will change for the next couple of days, but this is not true. Many bird species depend on the small amount of fresh water; this will also announce to some Darwin finches that it is a good chance to breed. Plants and cactus will start flowering and finally seeds will come. The colors we will see today are not the same as two weeks ago; every little shrub has turned green.

 

Walking around the salt water lagoon we saw some pintail ducks and wimbrels collecting Galápagos fiddler crabs that were desperately looking for food after the lagoon changed because of the rain. These efficient creatures are capable of building new homes every day after their homes have been covered by mud.

 

Our hike here was good for landscape photography, and the snorkeling in Buccaneer’s Cove was exciting because of the incredible warm water, which is loaded with rare nutrients for fish and attractive to the shy titans of the oceans: the great manta rays. These surprising animals can easily reach five meters across. An explanation of their exaggerated wing size might be the economy of gliding underwater instead of swimming constantly, which would burn more energy during long migrations.

 

Some of our friends found a huge Galápagos shark moving slowly, close to the bottom.

 

In the afternoon we visited the shores of Puerto Egas, where a little more than 50 years ago a salt mine operated for a short period of time. It’s now one of the favorite places for migratory birds to stop and catch some food and rest.

 

We observed fur sea lions at the beginning of this hike, and near the end a little Galápagos flycatcher decided that the lenses of the cameras held another bird just like him! How could that be possible? Is this little creature out of mind? No, it makes sense when we think about the place that he lives. He is a territorial bird that does not tolerate intruders in his space. For us, it was very nice to have him standing right on our heads and cameras.