Espanola Island
Our first full day in our Galapagos expedition takes us to Espanola Island. Upon wake up, we were anchored in Gardner Bay, north of the island. Offshore there are several islets, which offer perfect conditions for a first snorkeling outing. We set off to Gardner islet, in the center of the bay, to explore the underwater world of the Galapagos. There were amazing schools of fish like the Razor surgeonfish and the King Angel fish. Creole fish and salemas were also there, and attached to the walls of Gardner islet there were various species of colorful marine invertebrates. The beach of Gardner bay is quite stunning with its white-coralline sands and a healthy population of Galapagos sea lions. Those who walked along the beach were entertained by the sight of males patrolling their territories, females dozing on the sand and pups playing with each other. Espanola presents a high endemism rate amongst its species; one we could not help watching was the Espanola mockingbird, constantly patrolling and inspecting bags, backpacks and shoes left on the sand in the hope to find something to eat, which we did not offer. Today, we had everything one could expect from a tropical beach: white sand, blue waters and sunshine… perfect conditions for exploring the area by kayak, or simply relaxing!
West of Gardner bay we found Punta Suarez; this is one of the highlights of the week due to the amount of wildlife that inhabits this place. Once we set foot upon the landing site we were immediately surrounded by colorful marine iguanas and Galapagos sea lions of various ages. Nearby, we witnessed the birth of a sea lion pup… totally unexpected! As we ventured inland, we realized how dry this environment is. There were several land birds along the trail, like the Galapagos doves, Darwin finches, and mockingbirds. The species we were definitely keen to see here was the Waved albatross; it only nests on Espanola Island due to the highly productive waters that surround it. As we hiked back to the landing spot there were more marine birds to be seen, like the blue-footed and Nazca boobies, magnificent frigates and swallow-tailed gulls. After seeing all these amazing creatures it soon became easy to comprehend why the Galapagos remains one of the wonders of the natural world.
