Espanola Island

We anchored in the early hours of the day in Gardner Bay; there, we started our last day of exploration. Some of our guests went kayaking along the coast of Gardner Islet. While exploring the coast, we were accompanied by curious Galápagos sea lions, saw blue footed boobies, and swallow tailed gulls. We had great weather conditions, nice smooth seas, nice warm air temperature and bright blue skies.

After kayaking, we returned aboard for breakfast; we got ready with our snorkeling gear and went deep water snorkeling. We were joined there by some juvenile Galápagos sea lions, and a large variety of fish species. For those who felt more like taking a relaxing option, they went to a gorgeous white sandy beach that was full of sea lions and Española mockingbirds, ready to get onto our legs and towels just for mere curiosity.

We left Gardner Bay reluctantly, but we knew that Punta Suarez is one of the gemstones of the Galápagos archipelago. As we landed on the dock we were greeted by many bright colored marine iguanas, several of them with red and green skin. They were sunbathing on top of the lava rocks. We walked by a colony of sea lions, several of them sleeping, a couple of juveniles desperately looking for their mothers, and some young males starting an argument for territory.

Española is the only place in Galápagos to observe the largest bird in the archipelago, the Galápagos Waved albatross. They return every year at the end of March to nest with their mates. These birds displayed for us some spectacular flight along the steep cliffs of this island.

Our day was just ending with a brief glimpse of a small pod of Orcas which apparently came to inspect the coast looking for food or maybe just passing by.

The island and moreover the passion of our fellow guests made this week one in a lifetime.