Española Island
Today we woke up to the voice of our Expedition Leader Carlos Romero. We felt ready and encouraged for a full day of new sightings and memories. Every time I visit Española Island I feel so privileged, I almost loose track of time.
Our first visit on Punta Suarez started with excitement; we made our way through strong waves that broke off just a few feet away from our Zodiacs. With amazement we observed how Galápagos sea lions were cheerfully body surfing taking advantage of the waves. Española Island is beautifully crowded with marine bird species at this time of year. Blue footed boobies, Swallow-tailed gulls and Nazca boobies can be seen in large numbers all along the cliffs. Next in quantity are many colorful Española marine iguanas. After some time walking the trail we finally got to see the majestic Waved Albatross. Some young albatross were dancing, looking for a partner with whom they’ll share their life while older adults were getting ready to meet their offspring. The first albatross hatchlings should soon be seen around the island. At one point in our walk we all gathered together for a moment to watch one of the spectacular shows that Mother Nature shared with us: the famous “Española blow hole”. When we started heading back to the National Geographic Polaris we observed several marine iguanas moving around. We saw them swimming towards their feeding grounds in the shallow waters around the disembarkation area.
Our ship was repositioned and we set anchor in a stunning turquoise bay. In the distance we could see a very long white strip of sand with dark spots. With a second look the help of binoculars we realized that the dark spots were in fact Galápagos sea lions basking in the sun! Some of us opted to explore the underwater and headed to a small sheltered bay where were able to catch a glimpse of the rich marine wildlife in Galápagos. Big schools of surgeon fish were seen feeding on the bottom while a couple of Galápagos sea lions were showing off their swimming skills right next to us. After snorkeling we landed on the beautiful white sand beach we saw earlier through our binoculars. The fine sand in between our toes, and Galápagos sea lions everywhere we turned, was as close to a dream as you can imagine. What a way to finish our first full day of our expedition!
Today we woke up to the voice of our Expedition Leader Carlos Romero. We felt ready and encouraged for a full day of new sightings and memories. Every time I visit Española Island I feel so privileged, I almost loose track of time.
Our first visit on Punta Suarez started with excitement; we made our way through strong waves that broke off just a few feet away from our Zodiacs. With amazement we observed how Galápagos sea lions were cheerfully body surfing taking advantage of the waves. Española Island is beautifully crowded with marine bird species at this time of year. Blue footed boobies, Swallow-tailed gulls and Nazca boobies can be seen in large numbers all along the cliffs. Next in quantity are many colorful Española marine iguanas. After some time walking the trail we finally got to see the majestic Waved Albatross. Some young albatross were dancing, looking for a partner with whom they’ll share their life while older adults were getting ready to meet their offspring. The first albatross hatchlings should soon be seen around the island. At one point in our walk we all gathered together for a moment to watch one of the spectacular shows that Mother Nature shared with us: the famous “Española blow hole”. When we started heading back to the National Geographic Polaris we observed several marine iguanas moving around. We saw them swimming towards their feeding grounds in the shallow waters around the disembarkation area.
Our ship was repositioned and we set anchor in a stunning turquoise bay. In the distance we could see a very long white strip of sand with dark spots. With a second look the help of binoculars we realized that the dark spots were in fact Galápagos sea lions basking in the sun! Some of us opted to explore the underwater and headed to a small sheltered bay where were able to catch a glimpse of the rich marine wildlife in Galápagos. Big schools of surgeon fish were seen feeding on the bottom while a couple of Galápagos sea lions were showing off their swimming skills right next to us. After snorkeling we landed on the beautiful white sand beach we saw earlier through our binoculars. The fine sand in between our toes, and Galápagos sea lions everywhere we turned, was as close to a dream as you can imagine. What a way to finish our first full day of our expedition!
