Today we all enjoyed very much the visit to this island. Early in the morning we disembarked at Punta Suarez. During the walk our guests were amazed not only with the abundance of the animals we saw but also with their tameness. Sea lions, Española lava lizards, Española marine iguanas, Española mockingbirds, Nazca boobies, many waved albatrosses and many other creatures were all over the place. We saw a couple of blue-footed boobies as well at the very beginning of the walk. This observation is very interesting, just two weeks ago we saw several of these boobies already on the island. We believed they were back to the island but last week it was raining for several days and the plants started to grow very quickly. Boobies do not like to nest in places with many herbs; probably that was the reason they decided to leave.
Española at this time of the year is covered with green. Many plant species are blooming, just like the one I want to show you today. The Latin name of this beautiful coastal plant is Trianthema portulacastrum. It is a low growing herb with fleshy red stems and white flowers. The genus name of this plant comes from the Greek words: tri, "three", and anthemon, "flower", because certain other members of the genus produce 3 flowers in each inflorescence.
Among all the overwhelming beauty of the animal world represented so well in the island, this plant in bloom is so attractive that it was calling our attention.
