Española Island
This morning we started our expedition visiting the southernmost island of the Galápagos archipelago. This island is named Española and it is the oldest island in this group. It is more than three million years old and you can see this at the moment you look at the rocks. They all look eroded and smooth and the island is surrounded by high cliffs.
As we explored the island we realised that this place is a paradise for thousands of organisms. Among them, we have a large colony of marine iguanas that right now are very colorful due to the breeding season. Another interesting place is the nesting area of the Nazca boobies. They nest at this time of the year and we saw many newborn chicks. Sea lions are a common sight on this island; they are very playful and full of energy, sometimes loud and sometimes quiet, resting before heading off to sea in search of fish or good waves for surfing!
In the afternoon we headed to another location on the north side of Española for more activities and discoveries. This time we visited Gardner Bay. There is a white sandy beach here and it is dotted with sea lions of all sizes and ages. Here, we had the opportunity for snorkeling in deep water with large schools of tropical fish and sea lions that became the stars of the show while we snorkeled.
Later on we kayaked in the shallow water off Gardner islet and here the most surprising thing happened: when we assumed all the waved albatrosses were gone from the island we found the very last one of the season; a juvenile on his journey to the south Peruvian waters. This made my day!
