Española Island
This is a spectacular way to end our week in paradise. Our morning was highlighted with our last and excellent snorkeling around Gardner Islet near Española Island. Snorkeling, kayaking and enjoying the white sand beach at Gardner Bay filled with dozens of sea lions was a great farewell for our last morning here.
Punta Suarez on Española Island for the afternoon was truly the jewel of the crown in this unique archipelago. Filled with endemic animal and plant species, this trail started out with a magnificent committee full of green and red “Christmas” marine iguanas, a couple of nesting oystercatchers with their tiny sweet hatchlings, big lava lizards, lots of blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, two Galápagos snakes, and Galápagos hawks among others
The rocky trail took us to the area where we found two or three waved albatross fledglings; they will all be gone by the second week of January so we were the last lucky ones to enjoy their company this year. They will be back again at the end of April 2008 and start their reproductive cycle all over again.
At the end of the visit, the sun offered us its wonderful colors as it slipped away below the horizon. We were all thrilled and will never forget the beauty and wildness of this small island in the Pacific Ocean.
This is a spectacular way to end our week in paradise. Our morning was highlighted with our last and excellent snorkeling around Gardner Islet near Española Island. Snorkeling, kayaking and enjoying the white sand beach at Gardner Bay filled with dozens of sea lions was a great farewell for our last morning here.
Punta Suarez on Española Island for the afternoon was truly the jewel of the crown in this unique archipelago. Filled with endemic animal and plant species, this trail started out with a magnificent committee full of green and red “Christmas” marine iguanas, a couple of nesting oystercatchers with their tiny sweet hatchlings, big lava lizards, lots of blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, two Galápagos snakes, and Galápagos hawks among others
The rocky trail took us to the area where we found two or three waved albatross fledglings; they will all be gone by the second week of January so we were the last lucky ones to enjoy their company this year. They will be back again at the end of April 2008 and start their reproductive cycle all over again.
At the end of the visit, the sun offered us its wonderful colors as it slipped away below the horizon. We were all thrilled and will never forget the beauty and wildness of this small island in the Pacific Ocean.
