Today we woke up at Gardner Bay in Española Island. After a delicious breakfast, some guests disembarked for deep water snorkeling along the shore of Gardner Islet, while other guests went to visit Gardner Beach. Sea lions welcomed us at the beach and guests had a great time taking photos of these animals peacefully basking in the sand. In the afternoon, we disembarked to explore Punta Suarez. Here, we could find one of the most beautiful sea birds in Galapagos, the waved albatross. It’s the end of the mating season for these birds, and we observed a few couples in their final days on Española before they fly down to the coast of Peru to find food. We also found one of the largest nesting grounds of Nazca boobies, where we observed males bringing tiny rocks to females to catch their attention for mating. We ended our day with our traditional recap of the day onboard the National Geographic Endeavour II.
11/29/2021
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National Geographic Endeavour II
Floreana Island
Today we woke up at Punta Cormorant, where we disembarked for an early pre-breakfast natural history walk. It was a great morning to appreciate the scenery of Floreana Island and to practice our photography skills while enjoying incredible wildlife along the changing landscape of the trail. We also visited a beach where we were lucky to see Pacific green sea turtle nests, and the tracks of recent hatchlings that had come out of the nest in the past few days. After breakfast, we went for a Zodiac ride along Champion Islet. This was a great opportunity to observe different species of sea birds such as brown noddy terns, frigate birds, and swallow tail gulls. We also had the chance to go deep water snorkeling along the shore of this islet, where sea lions were playing around guests. In the afternoon, some guests decided on kayaking and paddleboarding, while others went to visit Post Office Bay, where we found an opportunity to talk about the human history of the Galapagos. We ended the day at Post Office Beach, where some guests had a chance to walk along the beach while others went for a swim.
