Española Island
Today the oldest island in the Galápagos, Española Island, was full of surprises for us. We disembarked at 8 o’clock and already from the zodiac we found many marine iguanas feeding on the rocks. As we got closer, we could see they have the most amazing red color. In their mating time, December, they will turn to green and red colors; this fact has given them the name of Christmas Iguanas.
As we started our walk, we found some blue footed boobies nesting on the trail, even one of the groups saw a female the moment she was laying an egg! Walking on boulders for close to two miles was worth it as we started finding some waved albatrosses. This species travels to the south during the warm time and during the cold time they come to Española Island to breed. The chicks look healthy and are getting ready to fly for the first time to leave the island at the end of December. We crossed through a Nazca booby colony on the way to the blow hole in the middle of the trail.
Coming back, we found a Galápagos hawk. Even though that fact was already amazing, suddenly another came! And a third one! In five minutes, we were surrounded by six Galápagos hawks in the most beautiful display: two adults and four juveniles. One of the juveniles came so close to the group that it tried to steal one of our guest’s hats!
In the afternoon we moved to Gardner Bay, a stunning white coralline beach owned by Galápagos sea lions. But they were more than happy to share their beach with us. We snorkeled among different fish, boobies diving in front of us, diamond rays, sea stars and playful sea lions all around. Some of us kayaked, and some of us just sat down and found our favorite sea lion to observe during the whole afternoon.
As our Expedition Leader, Paula, mentioned: “Española is one of the jewels on the crown.”
What a precious jewel we visited today!
