Genovesa
As we entered the caldera of Genovesa the morning light illuminated the cliff as well as the curious boobies that accompanied the ship as we entered the caldera
Since Genovesa is such a unique island and is extremely fragile we had a totally different approach for visiting the two sites that are open for us to enjoy the world of birds of the Galápagos. In the morning the first four groups had a dry landing at Prince Philip’s Steps and the other three groups had a wet landing at Darwin’s Bay.
So let me describe to you what marveled us at Prince Philip’s Steps: We landed along the cliff of the caldera on some rocks that are part of a fissure that the Galápagos National Park has transformed into steps using some cement and hand rails to help explorers get to the flat area of the southeastern part of the island. As soon as we reached the top we found a colony of Nazca boobies that were nesting right next to the trail; the chicks were all different sizes, but most of them were accompanied by one of the parents.
As we moved on, the trail emerged into a forest of palo santo, or sandalwood trees, that are perfect nesting sites for the red-footed boobies that are the only boobies with prehensile feet. As we walked along this forest we were accompanied by Galápagos mockingbirds and Galápagos doves; not many finches, but a few to remind us that land birds and oceanic birds co-exist with no problem whatsoever. Afterwards we came up to an open area with a beautiful vista, flat lava flows with hundreds and hundreds of petrels flying along the coast. However, the goal along this fissure was the short-eared owl that we got to see…
At the other visitor site, Darwin’s Bay, the scenario was totally different. To start with, it was a wet landing on a coralline beach and we walked first on sand and then on rough lava. Here we were part of the amazing bird life: the red-footed boobies were nesting on the red mangroves; the frigatebirds had their chicks on the salt bushes; the swallow-tailed gulls nested on the ground; the yellow-crowned night herons were running around all over trying to catch crabs; the Galápagos mockingbirds chased their parents begging for food; Darwin’s finches and Galápagos doves were busy looking for seeds; tropicbirds were flying as fast as they could to escape from frigatebird attacks…all happening at the same time at the same spot.
Last but not least the snorkeling was also startling, right inside a caldera where we could not see the bottom but could see puffer fish, Moorish idols, creole fish, and the most amazing feature, hammerhead sharks.
The magic of these islands will always live in our hearts; there is no better way to finish our adventure, the adventure of our lives, the one that will be remembered forever and ever, because there is no other place in the world where animals are so innocent and so unafraid of humans.
