Hood Island
After navigating last night we arrived at Hood Island, which is the oldest in the archipelago. This morning we went kayaking, deep water snorkeling, or strolling along the beach. We were surrounded by hundreds of Galápagos sea lions: some of them were sleeping, and others were swimming and playing with some of our guests in the turquoise waters of Gardner Bay.
Several species of plants and animals are unique to this island, the geographical isolation from the parental populations on the mainland; also the long time for this isolation has produced species found only on Hood and nowhere else. One of the most interesting animals is the Galápagos are waved albatross which nest on Hood. We found several couples in their courtship ritual, others where nesting; we also encountered several abandoned eggs along the trail on Punta Suarez. Some scientists and park rangers were observed returning after a hard day of work; they were counting and observing the colony of nesting albatrosses. According to them the population is doing fine and actively reproducing, and they even observed a smaller number of eggs being abandoned compared to other years. This is great news since many other species of albatross around the world are considered threatened. The conservation of those is our responsibility and we feel proud and happy of helping with that.
With a wonderful sunset we ended our day of exploration and discovery.
After navigating last night we arrived at Hood Island, which is the oldest in the archipelago. This morning we went kayaking, deep water snorkeling, or strolling along the beach. We were surrounded by hundreds of Galápagos sea lions: some of them were sleeping, and others were swimming and playing with some of our guests in the turquoise waters of Gardner Bay.
Several species of plants and animals are unique to this island, the geographical isolation from the parental populations on the mainland; also the long time for this isolation has produced species found only on Hood and nowhere else. One of the most interesting animals is the Galápagos are waved albatross which nest on Hood. We found several couples in their courtship ritual, others where nesting; we also encountered several abandoned eggs along the trail on Punta Suarez. Some scientists and park rangers were observed returning after a hard day of work; they were counting and observing the colony of nesting albatrosses. According to them the population is doing fine and actively reproducing, and they even observed a smaller number of eggs being abandoned compared to other years. This is great news since many other species of albatross around the world are considered threatened. The conservation of those is our responsibility and we feel proud and happy of helping with that.
With a wonderful sunset we ended our day of exploration and discovery.
