Hood Island
Last night we arrived at Hood Island, which is the oldest island in the archipelago. This morning we went to Gardner Bay on the northeastern side of the island. We had several options for everyone; we had our kayaks deployed and explored the impressive coastline with them. We also used our glass-bottom boat to look at the diverse marine life; we saw green sea turtles, diamond sting rays, eels, stony white coral and several species of fish.
Later we went snorkeling in deep waters along the walls of Gardner Islet; there the clear and warm blue waters made this activity very enjoyable. There were several species of marine invertebrates as well as large schools of fish and a couple of Galápagos sea lions. At the beach some curious sea lions took us by surprise by approaching our cameras; others just rested on the beach after an exhausting journey looking for fish, and were not interested in us at all.
After a magnificent morning at Gardner Bay we headed westwards to Punta Suarez, one of our favorite places in the archipelago. This afternoon we had perfect light and great weather; as we walked along the path we found the most colorful marine iguanas, sea lions and many young Galápagos waved albatross. We were still able to find albatross on the island, but soon they will be gone to Peru until the end of March, when they will return to breed on Hood Island. We also found Nazca boobies as well as swallow-tailed gulls departing to the sea to feed as the day ended.
It was a perfect day in Galápagos.
