Darwin’s Bay
Last night’s cruise from Santiago to Genovesa was choppy and windy, some of the explorers mentioned in the dining room during breakfast. Yes, they thought that they would need more training before they could ever get used to the motion.
For the first visit we went to Darwin’s Bay. After a wet landing disembarkation we found that the hard coral made hiking a bit tricky, but then we were amazed by the number of birds—this was our chance to see up-close the red-footed boobies, frigate birds, and others. It is quite an experience to walk past birds that don’t even care how close we are, and it seems to me that they are curious about the explorers that feel fascinated with all this natural beauty.
Our walk ended at a viewpoint by the towers, and it is simply impossible to describe. The inside caldera of Genovesa Island is very pretty with all the birds and the ocean moved by the wind’s strength. What we were looking for was standing right in front of us—what a great morning we had.
El Barranco
In the afternoon we all prepared for what would be the last of the expeditions on land here in Galápagos. We were deeply interested in seeing the special diurnal short-eared owl that goes hunting in the daytime—what an odd statement, looking for an owl hunting in the daytime! But it’s possible in this paradise called the Galápagos Islands. After walking through the high vegetation area and getting to the open lava platform, we were able to see one standing on a lava tube looking for the best position to strike and hunt the storm petrels—we wish it luck.
The whole week seemed to go very fast. We hardly believed it is over, but Galápagos always has more to offer and is here waiting for our explorers.
