Hood Island
Hood, or Española, Island is the oldest one in the archipelago. We started our day on Gardner Bay; there we had different options such as snorkeling from the beach or from the Zodiac in deeper waters, some of our guests also went for a stroll along a beach full of Galapagos sea lions while others went kayaking. This time of year is the beginning of the pupping season for the sea lions and we found one lifeless newborn, which had already been found by a hungry Galapagos hawk who had started to feed on it. It was a surprise for us, but is also part of the cycle of life that we were lucky to witness.
After an hour’s navigation we arrived to Punta Suarez; there we went ashore and headed to the interior of the island, but also had the opportunity to walk along the dramatic cliffs. As we got close to the cliffs we started to see some Galapagos waved albatross; some were with their chicks, others were in full courtship. We sat down for a while to observe the courting birds moves and listened to their sounds all in a very well synchronized dance. It is late for these birds to nest, but it helps in the bonding of the couples and it may have been single birds looking for a potential mate. We also saw Nazca boobies, blue footed boobies, swallow tailed gulls, and red billed tropic birds.
It was a wonderful day of discovery in Galapagos.
