Española Island
Lying on the easternmost extreme of the archipelago, through most the year the island of Española is under the influence of the Humboldt Current; but in the last weeks the island has been very hot due to the presence of the rainy season. Well, today while snorkeling, we detected a noticeable change of temperature in the water – not at the surface, just beneath, at some 10 to 20 feet deep the water was chilly. May the warm water from the Panama Flow be receding already? We have no way of knowing for sure yet, but it was exciting, swimming in a warm / cold, completely transparent ocean.
The beach was outstanding with this exquisite and rather exotic white sand peppered with hundreds of sea lions – yes, hundreds of them – all doing exactly the same thing at the same time: sleeping. It was really amusing to tip toe in between of them trying to find a path to cross the barrier to get to the “for humans” side of the beach.
Punta Suarez, the westernmost site of the island, showed an interesting stillness at the moment of our disembarkation. The stillness however was more the product of our imagination since it was a lot happening in that place. The sea lions were not on the beaches that decorate the rocky shorelines of the site, but on the rocks nearby the primitive but picturesque dock. In the vicinity, frigates were taking advantage of the thermals, flying in an ever ascendant spiral until one could barely see them with the naked eyes.
The most impressive sighting of the afternoon however, was seeing a couple of Galápagos hawks mating at no more than 20 feet from where the group was standing. We couldn’t be more oblivious to anyone but to those hawks, which after having mated spent some more minutes on the rock just before flying away as if to say: "hope you have taken a good set of pictures, see you."
Every day we can learn something new from nature even if we think we have seen the same one and too many times. Is it just a matter of adopting the right attitude, opening our eyes but moreover our minds?
Lying on the easternmost extreme of the archipelago, through most the year the island of Española is under the influence of the Humboldt Current; but in the last weeks the island has been very hot due to the presence of the rainy season. Well, today while snorkeling, we detected a noticeable change of temperature in the water – not at the surface, just beneath, at some 10 to 20 feet deep the water was chilly. May the warm water from the Panama Flow be receding already? We have no way of knowing for sure yet, but it was exciting, swimming in a warm / cold, completely transparent ocean.
The beach was outstanding with this exquisite and rather exotic white sand peppered with hundreds of sea lions – yes, hundreds of them – all doing exactly the same thing at the same time: sleeping. It was really amusing to tip toe in between of them trying to find a path to cross the barrier to get to the “for humans” side of the beach.
Punta Suarez, the westernmost site of the island, showed an interesting stillness at the moment of our disembarkation. The stillness however was more the product of our imagination since it was a lot happening in that place. The sea lions were not on the beaches that decorate the rocky shorelines of the site, but on the rocks nearby the primitive but picturesque dock. In the vicinity, frigates were taking advantage of the thermals, flying in an ever ascendant spiral until one could barely see them with the naked eyes.
The most impressive sighting of the afternoon however, was seeing a couple of Galápagos hawks mating at no more than 20 feet from where the group was standing. We couldn’t be more oblivious to anyone but to those hawks, which after having mated spent some more minutes on the rock just before flying away as if to say: "hope you have taken a good set of pictures, see you."
Every day we can learn something new from nature even if we think we have seen the same one and too many times. Is it just a matter of adopting the right attitude, opening our eyes but moreover our minds?
