It is the last week of the year 2013 and also today is the last day of our trip. It has been a great journey around the Galapagos Islands; we have seen many kinds of animals and plants that make the islands such a unique place on earth. We have had a lot of fun together and Genovesa is the frosting on the cake for a happy ending.

At 8:00 a.m. we moved out. Walking along the coast of Darwin Bay was sensational, with flocks of birds everywhere, red-footed boobies, sea gulls, mockingbirds, finches, doves, herons, Nazca boobies, and more animating our morning. Some of them were looking for food, others were building their nests, or just resting up in the thermal currents of the warm air that the shining sun provides.

Later the most intrepid guests went to kayak along a beautiful cliff, which is a very old crater collapse that forms nowadays a quiet bay where we spent our day. Colonies of fur sea lions are found on the cliffs in crevices; they are fatter, smaller, and cold-weather inhabitants versus the regular sea lions that we have seen almost every day during this week. Birds such as red-billed tropic birds are nesting in holes, and shearwaters fly everywhere with no apparent direction.

We finished our morning and the later in the afternoon we moved to a place called Prince Phillip’s Steps. It is a trail on the cliffs where a great variety of birds live. Here the surprise is to find short-eared owls, a diurnal feeder that commonly is nocturnal. But here they had a great adaptation because of the non-presence of hawks, which are the normal top food chain animal in the Galapagos.

Well! We were very lucky, we found just one out of a cave where storm petrels nest, and petrels are the favorite prey of these small and unique owls. The sunlight was perfect for our avid photographers, the birds were very active, the pacing of our walk very relaxed, and we just enjoyed every single minute of the marvelous nature that Galapagos offers.

We finished our day with a farewell cocktail, and all our guests were very happy and pleased with an unforgettable week around the enchanted islands.