Española Island
After 48 nautical miles of navigation, at 6:00am we arrive to Gardner Bay. We anchor near Gardner Islet, in front of one of the most spectacular white coral beaches in the Islands. At 7:00am, Fausto took a few guests with him for the last early kayak outing. This is one of the best times to kayak, as you can experience the peace and quiet of early hours.
As soon as the kayakers came back, we had breakfast and our next activity was the last snorkeling outing of the voyage. Ready for that, we headed out in our 3 Zodiacs, when suddenly Fausto, who went first, radioed us telling that they were dolphins about a mile from Gardner Islet. Without doubting one second, we went that way and in about 10 minutes we were in the middle of at least 500 bottlenose dolphins!
They were jumping side by side from the Zodiacs and again, without thinking twice and without speaking to each other, Fausto and I decided that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our guests (and us), to jump in the water with the dolphins. While getting our snorkel gear on as fast as we could, our expert panga drivers knew exactly what to do, so they went ahead of the school of dolphins and stopped right in from of them so we could jump in!
I could feel my adrenaline and my heart beating so hard! They were so fast that once we jumped in the water, we could see them just for few seconds. They were incredible! The water was so blue and deep and you could clearly hear their sounds, and yes, this was the most incredible experience we had!
Lynn couldn’t reach the dolphins on the last Zodiac with those who stayed on board, but they were lucky too as they spotted a humpback whale with a calf! After this awesome moment, we all went for snorkeling and had the last chance to play with a couple of young sea lions and a relaxed female. The water was beautiful and so clear, that it was easy to see the bottom and hundreds of different species of fish.
Then we all headed to the beautiful white coral sand beach where one more time we enjoyed watching hundreds of sea lions basking in the sun, playing in the water or just relaxing. I don’t know who had more fun, them or us, but no one wanted to go back on board!
After lunch, and well-instructed by Lynn about departing procedures, we landed at Punta Suárez, considered by many as one of the best, if not the best, visitor sites for the incredible amount of wildlife concentrated in a small portion of land. It is home of the endemic Waved Albatross.
This magnificent species of bird, with a wing span of 6-7 feet, can only be seen here from April to December when they nest. This time, we counted at least 14 baby albatrosses, and hundreds of adults, some performing their beautiful courtship right in front of us.
Blue-footed bobbies courting, Nazca boobies feeding their chicks, swallow tailed gulls mating, red billed tropic birds, large ground cactus finches, small ground finches, warbler finches, Galápagos doves, Hood mockingbirds, hood lava lizards, reddish marine iguanas, and the impressive Galápagos hawk were all there for us!
With a beautiful sunset and even a green flash(!), we left Española with the joy of discovering this magical paradise and with the aim to preserve them even more for future generations.
