Hood Island
After a nice smooth navigation we arrived at Hood Island, the oldest among the Galápagos islands. This same island was well known amongst privateers, pirates and whalers who described this and the other islands as dry, arid and enchanted. It was this island where they found a good food supply of giant tortoises, they took with them many tortoises on board or just simply sent their cook to shore to prepare their food on land. Later on goats were released as an alternative for food supply by some sailors. Several species of plants almost became extinct along with tortoises. As the Galápagos National Park was established, all goats were removed, land tortoises were taken to be bred in captivity, and their juveniles have been released back on Hood Island. There is currently a program to recover the endemic prickly pear cactus, so this is one of the most successful stories where a major restoration program has taken place and is still working. For that reason while we walked among boobies, marine iguanas, Galápagos waved albatross, hawks, and sea lions we felt a combination of pride and happiness, that something was done at the right time to save such a paradise.
This was our first full day in Galápagos, and we are so thrilled for the amazing numbers and variety of species of plants and animals we encounter all around. We ended our day with a spectacular sunset while coming back from Gardner Bay.
After a nice smooth navigation we arrived at Hood Island, the oldest among the Galápagos islands. This same island was well known amongst privateers, pirates and whalers who described this and the other islands as dry, arid and enchanted. It was this island where they found a good food supply of giant tortoises, they took with them many tortoises on board or just simply sent their cook to shore to prepare their food on land. Later on goats were released as an alternative for food supply by some sailors. Several species of plants almost became extinct along with tortoises. As the Galápagos National Park was established, all goats were removed, land tortoises were taken to be bred in captivity, and their juveniles have been released back on Hood Island. There is currently a program to recover the endemic prickly pear cactus, so this is one of the most successful stories where a major restoration program has taken place and is still working. For that reason while we walked among boobies, marine iguanas, Galápagos waved albatross, hawks, and sea lions we felt a combination of pride and happiness, that something was done at the right time to save such a paradise.
This was our first full day in Galápagos, and we are so thrilled for the amazing numbers and variety of species of plants and animals we encounter all around. We ended our day with a spectacular sunset while coming back from Gardner Bay.
