Genovesa
What an incredible place to spend the last day of the year. Genovesa – or Tower – Island is home to a million birds and today we felt like half of them flew over us! We spent the morning among nesting red-footed boobies and soaring great frigate birds. We found tiny hatchling swallow-tailed gulls being shaded from the hot tropical sun by the elegant parent birds. We saw three distinct species of finches that were (finally) easy to tell apart: large billed ground finch, warbler finch and sharp billed ground finch. One male frigate – a little ahead of the rest of the fellas – had his red balloon pouch semi-inflated. Within the month they should start to court in earnest and the shrubs of Genovesa will look like Christmas trees!
After our walk we either stayed to enjoy the beautiful coral sand beach or joined Naturalists Walter and Greg for snorkeling. The water was clear and deep, we saw Moorish idols and king angels, a mobula ray and we watched a pelican strain water from his flooded beak. A sea lion swam lazily among us, there were schools of colorful fish and we thoroughly enjoyed this final snorkel outing.
In the afternoon we took a leisurely panga ride along the base of the cliffs and saw tropicbirds, mating sea turtles and fur seals. We landed on the lava rocks and climbed Prince Phillip’s Steps. The trail led through nesting Nazca boobies and to a trail marker stake with a short eared owl perched on it! These guests think we always find owls so easily, but we know that we often don’t see a single one. Today however, Greg’s group found three!
We returned to the ship with the sun setting behind puffy clouds, illuminating them from behind and turning their edges to silver, then golden, pink and orange. But the night was still young as we climbed back aboard National Geographic Islander.
By now we had the flooded crater of Darwin Bay to ourselves; the other ships and yachts having sailed out and away soon after sunset. After showers we gathered in the Lounge and Captain Pablo proposed a toast while we watched a slideshow of our own fabulous photos. Then we had lots of fun with a “Geo Bee” competition – we were pleased with all we had learned about the wildlife and islands of the Galápagos.
Our New Year’s Eve dinner was a lavish buffet set out on the Sky Deck. There was bountiful food and plenty for both all our guests and all our crew. Many of us followed the Ecuadorians’ advice and wore yellow for luck and red for love as we welcomed the New Year. We had money in our pockets – that should bring money for us in 2012 – and we ran a circuit on the ship carrying our suitcase – for plentiful travel, too. The widow of the “Old Year” (“she” was actually our dish washer Xavier!) ran crying and mourning around the deck, begging for coins. Her husband was to be burned with all the bad thoughts and bad luck of the Old Year so we could start anew with good luck and vigor in 2012. Our crew had made three papier-mâché figures so we stuffed notes in a box where we had jotted down our disappointments and regrets from 2011 and they went up in flame with the Old Year. Happy New Year!
