Espanola Island
Our last day in Galápagos was so fabulous that it was completely off the charts! While most of us slept in, eight early risers joined panguero Horacio and naturalist Rocio for a pre-breakfast kayak outing. Crystal clear turquoise waters and frolicking sea lions were the backdrop for a lovely morning’s paddle. After breakfast three Zodiacs of snorkelers slid into those crystal clear waters and had a final swirl with playful and curious sea lions and many colorful fish.
Later, we had the gorgeous, fine white sand beach entirely to ourselves! Well, we were the only Homo sapiens upon it; there were a couple hundred sea lions! We enjoyed watching them in an array of behaviors: resting, nursing, cavorting and fighting. On a walk down the beach we observed two endemic species which are found only on this island in all the world: a large beaked and aggressive mockingbird and a reddish marine iguana. At noon, just as I had begun to try and round up those guests who were obviously in no hurry to leave this amazingly beautiful beach, Naturalist Rocio called from the ship excitedly “orcas!”
We loaded Zodiacs from both the ship and the shore as fast as we could and motored off to see if we could approach the whales. Two Zodiacs followed three whales that went towards shore and two followed a group that headed out to sea. WOW!!! What a show we had! In all there were 10 orcas, apparently a mix of females and young. They were seemingly as enchanted by us as we were by them because they did not try to evade us but instead repeatedly swam below the Zodiacs, belly up and surfaced alongside, some were even tail lobbing and breaching. Needless to say, while the whales preformed we were cheering in delight and taking pictures like mad.
There is nothing one can experience in nature that is much more exciting than being so close to whales. We spent an hour bouncing along in the azure sea on this calm and sunny day, admiring the black and white orcas, and none of us will ever forget the experience!
The afternoon scramble along a lava boulder strewn trail was the final climax to a superb week’s expedition. It was hard to imagine that we would still be totally surprised and enchanted all over again by something still previously unseen on our trip. But we were: the albatross! We thoroughly enjoyed watching them from only meters away while they incubated eggs, and interacted with their neighbors and mates. These elegant birds are clumsy on land but those that soared above us were anything but. Gliding machines, so sleek and smooth on the wing, they swept along the spectacular cliffs of southern Espanola Island and we were mesmerized.
Nazca boobies nesting along these cliffs had the first of the season’s tiny chicks. We observed many more of the reddish iguanas, searched for finches and mockingbirds and spotted a pair of Galápagos hawks.
As the sun set and dusk crept upon us, we stumbled tiredly over the last of the round lava rocks and returned to the beach, and to the sea lions, where we had disembarked. The Zodiacs shuttled us to shore and I think it is safe to say that everyone of us sighed sadly to see our expedition come to an end.
But - WOW – what a day and what a way to end an already magical week’s voyage in the Enchanted Islands of Galápagos!
Our last day in Galápagos was so fabulous that it was completely off the charts! While most of us slept in, eight early risers joined panguero Horacio and naturalist Rocio for a pre-breakfast kayak outing. Crystal clear turquoise waters and frolicking sea lions were the backdrop for a lovely morning’s paddle. After breakfast three Zodiacs of snorkelers slid into those crystal clear waters and had a final swirl with playful and curious sea lions and many colorful fish.
Later, we had the gorgeous, fine white sand beach entirely to ourselves! Well, we were the only Homo sapiens upon it; there were a couple hundred sea lions! We enjoyed watching them in an array of behaviors: resting, nursing, cavorting and fighting. On a walk down the beach we observed two endemic species which are found only on this island in all the world: a large beaked and aggressive mockingbird and a reddish marine iguana. At noon, just as I had begun to try and round up those guests who were obviously in no hurry to leave this amazingly beautiful beach, Naturalist Rocio called from the ship excitedly “orcas!”
We loaded Zodiacs from both the ship and the shore as fast as we could and motored off to see if we could approach the whales. Two Zodiacs followed three whales that went towards shore and two followed a group that headed out to sea. WOW!!! What a show we had! In all there were 10 orcas, apparently a mix of females and young. They were seemingly as enchanted by us as we were by them because they did not try to evade us but instead repeatedly swam below the Zodiacs, belly up and surfaced alongside, some were even tail lobbing and breaching. Needless to say, while the whales preformed we were cheering in delight and taking pictures like mad.
There is nothing one can experience in nature that is much more exciting than being so close to whales. We spent an hour bouncing along in the azure sea on this calm and sunny day, admiring the black and white orcas, and none of us will ever forget the experience!
The afternoon scramble along a lava boulder strewn trail was the final climax to a superb week’s expedition. It was hard to imagine that we would still be totally surprised and enchanted all over again by something still previously unseen on our trip. But we were: the albatross! We thoroughly enjoyed watching them from only meters away while they incubated eggs, and interacted with their neighbors and mates. These elegant birds are clumsy on land but those that soared above us were anything but. Gliding machines, so sleek and smooth on the wing, they swept along the spectacular cliffs of southern Espanola Island and we were mesmerized.
Nazca boobies nesting along these cliffs had the first of the season’s tiny chicks. We observed many more of the reddish iguanas, searched for finches and mockingbirds and spotted a pair of Galápagos hawks.
As the sun set and dusk crept upon us, we stumbled tiredly over the last of the round lava rocks and returned to the beach, and to the sea lions, where we had disembarked. The Zodiacs shuttled us to shore and I think it is safe to say that everyone of us sighed sadly to see our expedition come to an end.
But - WOW – what a day and what a way to end an already magical week’s voyage in the Enchanted Islands of Galápagos!
