Española Island
We disembarked on an “out of the ordinary” white sandy beach with sea lions, instead of palm trees or buildings. The turquoise color of the water left us speechless. On one hand, the master of the beach, the big bull, swims back and forth patrolling its territory. Furthermore, frenetically sea lion pups nurse at the beach. It’s unreal to stand next to the Española mockingbirds doing their flick fights.
The snorkeling experience took place at Tortuga Rock. Once we jumped in, the underwater world opened its doors. We were sea stargazing surrounded by the Pacific cushion sea stars. We encountered a school of White-spotted eagle rays and stingrays.
In the afternoon, we visited the northwest side of the island. As we landed, sea lion pups greeted us. They were all over the place playing or nursing. The endemic unique marine iguanas were facing towards the sun to warm up for the evening. At Punta Suarez, the waved albatross, which is the only albatross species that breeds at the Equator, meet every year in order to look for their mates. The island topography with its sculptured cliffs allows them to use this place as a landing spot. Although the breeding season starts by the end of March, we could admire their elaborated courtship or “ecstatic ritual.” On the way back by dusk, very near, we witness a female sea lion giving birth at the beach.
Our adventure wasn’t over, surpringsinly, as one of the flanks of Sierra Negra Volcano located at the southern end of Isabela Island woke up and erupted. In fact, the entire volcano has been resurfaced within the past 4500 years. On average, an eruption has occurred every 15 years. The shortest interval between eruptions was 4 years and the longest 37 years. The shortest duration of an eruption was one week and the longest lasted about four months. Therefore, we changed at nighttime our planned navigation looking forward to see this geological and unexpected admirable event. Furthermore, the cosmos was open and the stars illuminated this fantastic episode at the distance. Last time this volcano erupted was in 1986. Additionally, bottle-nosed dolphins bow rode and the nocturnal swallow-tailed gulls were gliding and feeding.
Nature has no limit to make such miraculous days!
We disembarked on an “out of the ordinary” white sandy beach with sea lions, instead of palm trees or buildings. The turquoise color of the water left us speechless. On one hand, the master of the beach, the big bull, swims back and forth patrolling its territory. Furthermore, frenetically sea lion pups nurse at the beach. It’s unreal to stand next to the Española mockingbirds doing their flick fights.
The snorkeling experience took place at Tortuga Rock. Once we jumped in, the underwater world opened its doors. We were sea stargazing surrounded by the Pacific cushion sea stars. We encountered a school of White-spotted eagle rays and stingrays.
In the afternoon, we visited the northwest side of the island. As we landed, sea lion pups greeted us. They were all over the place playing or nursing. The endemic unique marine iguanas were facing towards the sun to warm up for the evening. At Punta Suarez, the waved albatross, which is the only albatross species that breeds at the Equator, meet every year in order to look for their mates. The island topography with its sculptured cliffs allows them to use this place as a landing spot. Although the breeding season starts by the end of March, we could admire their elaborated courtship or “ecstatic ritual.” On the way back by dusk, very near, we witness a female sea lion giving birth at the beach.
Our adventure wasn’t over, surpringsinly, as one of the flanks of Sierra Negra Volcano located at the southern end of Isabela Island woke up and erupted. In fact, the entire volcano has been resurfaced within the past 4500 years. On average, an eruption has occurred every 15 years. The shortest interval between eruptions was 4 years and the longest 37 years. The shortest duration of an eruption was one week and the longest lasted about four months. Therefore, we changed at nighttime our planned navigation looking forward to see this geological and unexpected admirable event. Furthermore, the cosmos was open and the stars illuminated this fantastic episode at the distance. Last time this volcano erupted was in 1986. Additionally, bottle-nosed dolphins bow rode and the nocturnal swallow-tailed gulls were gliding and feeding.
Nature has no limit to make such miraculous days!
