Española Island
Today we visited an island that, as soon as we landed on it, was overwhelming; what we saw and experienced has no parallel in the world. The day began with a beautiful sunrise, few clouds over the horizon, so we all expected a sunny day. But the animals on the island behaved in unexpected ways.
The first activities in the morning involved snorkeling in the waters surrounding Gardner Bay on Española Island. The deep-water snorkelers had a chance to meet new friends, the Galápagos sea lion! They also encountered big schools of salemas, an endemic fish, and yellowtail surgeonfish, but as expected, no other marine creature in that reef could top the playful sea lions that moved between the snorkelers. For the snorkelers who began their first explorations in these waters from the beach, sea lions also moved among them, probably wondering why these two-legged creatures needed colored fins, a mask and a snorkel to swim so slowly in the water? And when we approached the beach many saw rocks lying on the beach; suddenly, as we got closer, the “rocks” began to move, rolling on the sand and making sounds.
In the afternoon we visited Punta Suarez, the place where the endemic waved albatross nests. At arrival we were received by a female sea lion and its pup that had decided the best place to nurse her pup was in the middle of our dock. After several tries it was possible to convince this stubborn lady to move to one side and let us pass by to start our visit; the pup followed her and began nursing as soon as she stopped moving. Not as playful, nor as good looking as a sea lion, several marine iguanas lay on the rocks, sneezing every now and then, while a Galápagos hawk perched on a rock nearby. And to add some action to this scene, a mockingbird moved some sand on the beach, searching for worms to eat.
As we walked it was possible to see the cliffs covered with Nazca boobies. On the other side of the trail several blue-footed boobies moved and looked at us; every now and then a male made what seemed to be a desperate whistle to the sky as a female flew by, trying to get her attention and meet a potential mate, so he could start the elaborate courtship dance.
Then it was the time to see the endemic waved albatross, an impressive bird. Several were performing the courtship ritual, hitting their bills right in front of the visiting groups. On the way back to our Zodiacs we met the same sea lion that blocked our way when we arrived; she appears to have some peculiar preference for this specific spot on the dock, so as politely as we could, some of us began to clap our hands, trying to convince her that this time we needed to get back on board for dinner and after that the whole dock would be her private space. Finally she moved off the dock to one side; the pup followed her, complaining, and as soon as she stopped and laid on a rock, began to nurse again.
As we sailed away we could still see the waved albatrosses gliding over the island.
