As the days go by, our expedition is becoming more and more interesting, and today was no exception. We started with an early morning excursion at Espumilla Beach, where we had many incredible wildlife sightings. We watched as a juvenile Galapagos Hawk tried several times to capture a ghost crab, giving our photographers a good reason to sit and wait patiently observing animal behavior—we were very curious to see how this scenario would play out. The hawk tried from different angles to catch the poor crab, who defended himself however he could, even raising his claws to discourage this large bird, but the situation did not look good for the little fighter. We moved our attention to a feeding frenzy along the beach, where blue-footed boobies were repeatedly diving into the ocean, capturing small fish.
At Buccaneers Cove we spent almost two hours exploring the deep, crystal clear waters. Almost immediately after we dove in, we found several Galapagos garden eels, and as we neared the cove, white-tipped reef sharks began to appear. Once we were inside the cove, in almost complete darkness, we spotted many different kinds of fish, as well as marble sting rays and a single sea lion who was free diving.
The day was far from over when we anchored in Puerto Egas, where some of our guests enjoyed some relaxation on the black volcanic beach, while the second group went for a hike to observe the wildlife and the rare, dazzling landscape. We saw many marine iguanas resting after their long dives, feeding on algae from the underwater rocks.
Some of us spent the afternoon looking for more action along the shore, and we found something exceptional here—hundreds of thousand anchovies, perhaps the largest school that I’ve seen over years of free diving! The feeding frenzy was attended by blue-footed boobies, pelican barracudas, albacore, pacific sierra and even yellowfin tuna! It was the most amazing moment, with the low afternoon sunlight, perfect for photography underwater. Some areas were dark enough to be disorientating—the sun could not be seen from down there, and we relied on bubbling in the water to help us find our way back to the surface. It was an exciting experience.
