Hood Island
Even after working in Galápagos for several years, one can always be surprised by something new. This day, for example, we had a cool breeze which made our day a bit cooler than in previous weeks; today it felt a bit more like the typical day in the dry cold season. It was very sunny, but the waters were more agitated and were very clear, just great for snorkeling.
We had different activities for everyone; we went kayaking, snorkeling from the beach and from our Zodiacs, others went on a ride on the glass-bottom boat. Almost everybody went to the beach on Gardner Bay, where some walked along the shore line dotted with sea lions, or swam with them.
After having a great time on Gardner Bay we returned aboard and started to navigate to Punta Suarez. Near our landing place, we found that a couple of small sandy beaches were crowded with Galápagos sea lions; this is not their mating season, so we sat down and spent some time observing their behavior and listening to their different vocalizations.
As we hiked further to the interior of the island we started to observe Nazca boobies, blue-footed boobies, and swallow-tailed gulls. Several Nazca boobies were nesting, some had small chicks, others were just incubating, and few had juveniles just starting to fledge. Many Hood lava lizards were sunbathing on the rocks, while others were hunting for small insects.
As we were finishing our hike we saw the sun slowly disappearing behind the horizon. It was a great day on Hood Island.
