Española Island

At 6:00 am we arrived at Gardner Bay. We anchored in front of one of the most spectacular white coral beaches in Galápagos. At 7:00 am, I took a couple of guests with me for a kayaking outing, as you can imagine the peace and quiet of the early hours. We kayaked along the coast of Gardner Islet, where sea lions came very close to us. Along the way we saw swallow tailed gulls, lave herons catching fish and crabs.

Once all of the groups of kayakers returned to the National Geographic Islander we had breakfast. Our next activity was snorkeling. The sea lions were again ready to grace us with their swimming talents; we got in the water and had a whale of a time. The sea lions were so fast that once we jumped in the water, we could see them going pass us like bullets. They were incredible! The water was so blue that you could clearly see their eyes. This was one of the most unbelievable experiences we had! The water was a bit cold, but clear, making it easy to see the bottom and hundreds of different species of fish.

Then, we all headed to the beautiful white coral sand beach were one more time we enjoyed watching hundreds of sea lions basking in the sun, playing on 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 were instructed on departing procedures by Lynn. We landed at Punta Suárez; considered by many, one of the best, if not the best visitor site for the incredible amount of wildlife concentrated in a small portion of land. This time, we counted at least 25 baby albatrosses and hundreds of adults, some performing their beautiful courtship right in front of us.
Blue-footed boobies 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, marine iguanas and the impressive Galápagos hawk.

We left Española with the joy of discovering this magical paradise and with the aim to preserve it for future generations.