Española Island
Today was our first full day in the Galápagos Islands, and we began our expedition by visiting three different sites on Española Island.
Early in the morning before breakfast some of our guests went kayaking along Gardner Bay and its surroundings. Kayaking in the Galápagos allows you to see wildlife from a different perspective, besides it is a great exercise – especially in such a lovely natural environment.
After our well-deserved breakfast we organized our first deep-water snorkeling outing at Gardner Island. Conditions were great for this activity: crystal clear waters, a sunny morning and a good water temperature. We found big schools of multicolor fish, a marbled ray and a big hammerhead shark!
Shortly after the snorkeling, we visited the beach at Gardner Bay. This was a great opportunity for exploration, we had the chance to spread out a bit and walk to the end of this half-mile beach. The sand is so fine here that it looks and feels like flour. This is the best resting area for sea lions, we saw more than 100.
In the afternoon we walked at Suarez Point. The goal of our hike was to find waved albatross, this endemic bird species returns from a long migration to this island in early April. We were lucky to see the first of them arriving at the island. We actually came across several dozen of them; Nazca boobies were also found with their chicks.
After our walk we returned to the ship and had our traditional evening recap in the main lounge. A recap is a recapitulation of the day, and is a great chance we have to share more information about what we have seen – plus it was accompanied by an amazing cocktail!
