Hood Island
The season is coming to an end for the Galápagos Waved Albatross. Last week there were 26 juveniles right next to the trail, and today’s walk revealed that they were almost ready to leave this rookery! Out of the 12,000 pairs that live on this island, the majority of couples, which mate for life, have had a very successful year. It seems that the reasonable cold waters and prevailing trade-winds, have significantly helped the reproduction of the albatross. Their numbers are like never before, as we’ve seen only a dozen juveniles (at the most) in the past years!
The National Geographic Endeavour has a photographer’s expedition cruise this week, the second in back-to-back departures. And our guests started the day at sunrise, 0541 am. At that time the weather was cloudy, but as the day progressed we got a beautiful blue sky, allowing us to take excellent shots of the various birds, which were flying right across the cliff. We saw albatross, tropic birds, and blue and Nazca boobies, amongst others.
We returned on board to recharge our batteries! We also had to get ready for the afternoon outing, a great combination of activities that included snorkeling, kayaking, glass bottom boating, and sharing a white coralline beach in the company of our fellow Galápagos sea lions…
