Genovesa Island
We started the last day of this wonderful week aboard National Geographic Islander by kayaking early in the morning around the very old collapsed caldera of Darwin Bay. One more trip and one more group of travelers leaving these enchanted islands with great experiences with this unique wildlife, and great memories they will never forget.
Kayaking was very nice, at 6:30a.m. the sunlight for pictures is the best, and having all the seabirds so close to us, in a quiet situation was very special. Breakfast gave us a burst of energy, and later we were ready for a walk on Darwin Beach. We had a wet landing on that small white sandy beach, some sea lions were resting and the sky was full of birds. In fact, Genovesa, also known as Tower Island, is considered “the island of the birds.” Only here will you find the three species of boobies and the two kinds of frigates found on Galápagos. We saw all of them, plus lava gulls, one of the rarest birds, endemic to the islands with about 400 pairs existing nowadays. There were many swallow-tailed gulls building their nests, others feeding their babies. The yellow crown herons were standing on the very hot but beautiful morning cooling off using their wings as umbrellas.
Returning to the ship we prepared our snorkeling gear. I told to those coming with me on the Zodiac today we are going to see sharks—big sharks! I was smiling, some of them too, but one lady was a little nervous. To calm her down I said, “Well, now you have to tell your friends when you go back home that you snorkeled with sharks, you have to face your fear!” She said she didn’t want to see them. In the end the story was great, we snorkeled with hammerhead sharks, eagle rays, and tropical fish. Guests on my Zodiac today said it was probably the best day of the trip.
In the afternoon we did a very short Zodiac ride along the cliff just to see Galápagos fur seals, and frigate birds with their pouches blown up. Climbing Prince Phillip’s steps was nice, from the top you see a complete view of the bay and many seabirds using the thermal currents to glide and to save their energy. We set some goals before our walk: to see the short-eared owl and some male frigate birds nesting with their balloons. At the end our mission was accomplished, we saw three owls, many frigate males attracting females from their nests, many Nazca boobies with their little babies, and others.
At night, the slideshow made by Aura Banda reminded all our travelers of the seven amazing days we spent together discovering the marvelous world that my islands offer to those whom visit this magical place. I said “my island” because yes, they are mine, I take them inside of me since I learned here the real value of life—the small details are found in very simple things.
