Española Island
We are on Española Island, and Gardner Bay is where we anchored today. Several activities were offered for the morning. The early birds decide to go on a pre-breakfast kayak expedition, where they had the opportunity to see more of the lava formation which has been so impressive throughout our stay on the islands. Everyone had a chance to snorkel with the sea lions; they were as playful as ever. Later, we went to the softest white sand. It was covered with sea lions. We also saw some turtles swimming in the turquoise water.
After lunch, as we travelled to the other side of the island, a quick siesta was needed before disembarking. On our way to Punta Suarez, we could see some marine iguanas feeding on the exposed lava rocks covered in seaweed.
Our dry landing had red sally light foot crabs decorating the black round lava rocks, which were on both sides of our trail. A bull sea lion was posing on the white beach and a female went by paying no attention to him. It was a breezy afternoon.
Hood Island had many more surprises for us to see. The mockingbirds, doves and lava lizards were constantly on our path. The Nazca boobies and Swallow tail gulls were on their breading grounds while the red billed tropic birds flew over us. Finally we reached our goal, the breading ground for the waved albatross. Their dance had us sitting down while we photographed every move they made.
Ah! The Galápagos Islands… magical in every way.
