Española Island
Today we visited Española island, and all our guests were waiting to see the “Christmas” marine iguanas. We call them this name because of the red and green coloration that they take on in breeding season, and that happens mainly at Christmas time, although it is almost May and they are still looking festive!
But it is not only the season of reptiles, it is also the time that the waved albatrosses come back to Galápagos after a long journey of about three months in the southeast Pacific. They fly more than two thousand miles away from Galápagos Islands.
What caught our attention later in the visit were some immature Nazca boobies learning and trying to fly – very amusing! These birds were beating their wings so fast and nothing happened; they were trying to lift one foot and jump a little, but they are not quite ready to take off yet. I think they have to do some more aerobics to build muscle, and in a couple of weeks they will do it. Our Wellness Specialist could possibly help them if necessary. We finally saw one of them take off, but we don’t know how this one will land; sometimes a crash landing happens on the lava rocks nearby.
In the afternoon we enjoyed our time in the crystalline waters of Gardner Bay where we did some aquatic activities like glass bottom boat rides, swimming and snorkeling. After all of this we ended up on a beautiful white sand beach covered by so many sea lions that it was difficult to walk through them. All our guests had a great time swimming in the shallow water with young sea lions.
We came back on board to have our "blue-footed booby" cocktail, and watch another gorgeous sunset in the Galápagos Islands.
Today we visited Española island, and all our guests were waiting to see the “Christmas” marine iguanas. We call them this name because of the red and green coloration that they take on in breeding season, and that happens mainly at Christmas time, although it is almost May and they are still looking festive!
But it is not only the season of reptiles, it is also the time that the waved albatrosses come back to Galápagos after a long journey of about three months in the southeast Pacific. They fly more than two thousand miles away from Galápagos Islands.
What caught our attention later in the visit were some immature Nazca boobies learning and trying to fly – very amusing! These birds were beating their wings so fast and nothing happened; they were trying to lift one foot and jump a little, but they are not quite ready to take off yet. I think they have to do some more aerobics to build muscle, and in a couple of weeks they will do it. Our Wellness Specialist could possibly help them if necessary. We finally saw one of them take off, but we don’t know how this one will land; sometimes a crash landing happens on the lava rocks nearby.
In the afternoon we enjoyed our time in the crystalline waters of Gardner Bay where we did some aquatic activities like glass bottom boat rides, swimming and snorkeling. After all of this we ended up on a beautiful white sand beach covered by so many sea lions that it was difficult to walk through them. All our guests had a great time swimming in the shallow water with young sea lions.
We came back on board to have our "blue-footed booby" cocktail, and watch another gorgeous sunset in the Galápagos Islands.
