Española Island
Today we were visiting the southernmost island of the Galápagos and it turns out to be one of the richest with wildlife. As we were making our way on the Zodiacs, we bumped onto a couple of turtles; sea lions were playing with the iguanas, pulling them by the tail while they were struggling to make their way by swimming to some uncovered rocks, taking advantage of the low tide to go out and feed on the algae.
At our landing we were greeted by colorful crabs, reddish marine iguanas and so many young sea lions that you really couldn’t decide were to look. It was a bit of a struggle to find our way thru all the blue-footed boobies nesting right in the middle of the trail. Our walk continued with a new discovery every few steps and even though the trail was a bit arduous, the rewards were many, specially seeing all the animals so close to you not caring at all about us. The cliffs were full of tropic birds, Nazca boobies and we were also able to see the beautiful waved albatross take off in such a graceful way.
The morning was just mind blowing and we all came back to the National Geographic Polaris with a big smile on our face, looking forward to our next adventure.
We did not have to wait to long, as the afternoon gave us time to explore the underwater world, which is just about as rich as the land. We observed all different types of fishes from the smallest red cardinal fishes along the cliff to the largest schools of yellowtail razors that like to gather in groups of up to a few hundred. They synchronize their movements all together and gave us all a great underwater ballet show.
A sea lion passed by and you could see all the fish swim away really fast, while on the rocky bottom you had a few different types of sea urchins, like the black with long spines, the smallest green and the pencil sea urchin with its thick spines; really amazing to see all that variety and one just wonders how come none of these animals are afraid of us, and tend to ignore us completely as we swim by them.
We spent an hour in the water and everybody was having such a good time that it felt like they had been there for only 5 minutes. We then decided that it was time to go to visit the beautiful beach on Gardner; we landed on a white sand beach with turquoise waters, almost completely covered by sea lions. It was so neat to see everyone finding their way through these animals, looking for a place to relax. Others were just wandering along the beach enjoying the end of the day. The sound of the waves and the sea lions barking in the background gave us the perfect sense of being on a pristine area. The last group returning to the ship was the one that were exploring the coastline on the kayaks, and by six in the afternoon we were all back on board, in time for cocktail time!
Today we were visiting the southernmost island of the Galápagos and it turns out to be one of the richest with wildlife. As we were making our way on the Zodiacs, we bumped onto a couple of turtles; sea lions were playing with the iguanas, pulling them by the tail while they were struggling to make their way by swimming to some uncovered rocks, taking advantage of the low tide to go out and feed on the algae.
At our landing we were greeted by colorful crabs, reddish marine iguanas and so many young sea lions that you really couldn’t decide were to look. It was a bit of a struggle to find our way thru all the blue-footed boobies nesting right in the middle of the trail. Our walk continued with a new discovery every few steps and even though the trail was a bit arduous, the rewards were many, specially seeing all the animals so close to you not caring at all about us. The cliffs were full of tropic birds, Nazca boobies and we were also able to see the beautiful waved albatross take off in such a graceful way.
The morning was just mind blowing and we all came back to the National Geographic Polaris with a big smile on our face, looking forward to our next adventure.
We did not have to wait to long, as the afternoon gave us time to explore the underwater world, which is just about as rich as the land. We observed all different types of fishes from the smallest red cardinal fishes along the cliff to the largest schools of yellowtail razors that like to gather in groups of up to a few hundred. They synchronize their movements all together and gave us all a great underwater ballet show.
A sea lion passed by and you could see all the fish swim away really fast, while on the rocky bottom you had a few different types of sea urchins, like the black with long spines, the smallest green and the pencil sea urchin with its thick spines; really amazing to see all that variety and one just wonders how come none of these animals are afraid of us, and tend to ignore us completely as we swim by them.
We spent an hour in the water and everybody was having such a good time that it felt like they had been there for only 5 minutes. We then decided that it was time to go to visit the beautiful beach on Gardner; we landed on a white sand beach with turquoise waters, almost completely covered by sea lions. It was so neat to see everyone finding their way through these animals, looking for a place to relax. Others were just wandering along the beach enjoying the end of the day. The sound of the waves and the sea lions barking in the background gave us the perfect sense of being on a pristine area. The last group returning to the ship was the one that were exploring the coastline on the kayaks, and by six in the afternoon we were all back on board, in time for cocktail time!
