Española Island
The last day of this week in paradise was marvelous! We slept in, enjoyed the breakfast buffet and then headed off to snorkel around Roca Tortuga and/or took the Zodiacs to the gorgeous beach at Gardner Bay. Conditions were absolutely perfect both in the water and on shore. The visibility was great, and we were surrounded by schools of fish. We swam completely around the islet and only reluctantly climbed up the wooden ladders into the Zodiacs that had patrolled along with us and motored to shore.
By the time we all reached the beach, the passengers from other charter boats were leaving, and soon we had the sparkling mile long beach all to ourselves. Well, we were not completely alone: there were dozens of sea lions to entertain us. They rested alone or side by side like sardines in a can. One huge male – the obvious beach master – barked and paraded and swam up and down claiming the territory and warning other males away. A couple of smaller males wrestled and chased in preparation for their moment sometime in the future as territorial male.
We immensely enjoyed the beauty of the setting: splendid fine white sand lapped by turquoise waters. We also enjoyed the chance to walk and wander at our leisure, or to swim and frolic with the sea lion in the gentle waves of the Pacific. It was such an idyllic setting and morning that even I hated to see it end, but at last it was time to usher our guests back to the ship
We had lunch and a final shopping spree on board, and as the afternoon cooled off, we disembarked at Punta Suarez. Waves rolled in and across the landing jetty but most of us made it to the shore with dry feet. We took a 2 mile walk across rocky terrain which took us through sea lion colonies, past napping reddish marine iguanas, among Nazca boobies with nearly fledged chicks and then to a boulder strewn flatlands where blue footed boobies danced and courted. Here we found our first waved albatross; some were already paired off but most were single males waiting for the return of the females. We sat beside the blow hole and enjoyed the spray it spouted 50 feet into the air. We watched the sea birds glide above our heads as the sun began to set, an orange fireball.
We made our way carefully across the lava boulders back to the landing dock and were both sad and satisfied when we sat on the comfortable pontoons of the Zodiacs which whisked us back to the Islander. What a fabulous final day of an incredible week in Las Islas Encantadas it has been!
The last day of this week in paradise was marvelous! We slept in, enjoyed the breakfast buffet and then headed off to snorkel around Roca Tortuga and/or took the Zodiacs to the gorgeous beach at Gardner Bay. Conditions were absolutely perfect both in the water and on shore. The visibility was great, and we were surrounded by schools of fish. We swam completely around the islet and only reluctantly climbed up the wooden ladders into the Zodiacs that had patrolled along with us and motored to shore.
By the time we all reached the beach, the passengers from other charter boats were leaving, and soon we had the sparkling mile long beach all to ourselves. Well, we were not completely alone: there were dozens of sea lions to entertain us. They rested alone or side by side like sardines in a can. One huge male – the obvious beach master – barked and paraded and swam up and down claiming the territory and warning other males away. A couple of smaller males wrestled and chased in preparation for their moment sometime in the future as territorial male.
We immensely enjoyed the beauty of the setting: splendid fine white sand lapped by turquoise waters. We also enjoyed the chance to walk and wander at our leisure, or to swim and frolic with the sea lion in the gentle waves of the Pacific. It was such an idyllic setting and morning that even I hated to see it end, but at last it was time to usher our guests back to the ship
We had lunch and a final shopping spree on board, and as the afternoon cooled off, we disembarked at Punta Suarez. Waves rolled in and across the landing jetty but most of us made it to the shore with dry feet. We took a 2 mile walk across rocky terrain which took us through sea lion colonies, past napping reddish marine iguanas, among Nazca boobies with nearly fledged chicks and then to a boulder strewn flatlands where blue footed boobies danced and courted. Here we found our first waved albatross; some were already paired off but most were single males waiting for the return of the females. We sat beside the blow hole and enjoyed the spray it spouted 50 feet into the air. We watched the sea birds glide above our heads as the sun began to set, an orange fireball.
We made our way carefully across the lava boulders back to the landing dock and were both sad and satisfied when we sat on the comfortable pontoons of the Zodiacs which whisked us back to the Islander. What a fabulous final day of an incredible week in Las Islas Encantadas it has been!
