Genovesa Island
On our last full day in the Galápagos Islands we visited some of the hotspots of biodiversity.
Genovesa, also known as Tower Island, is home to one of the largest nesting colonies for marine birds, including handsome red-footed boobies, hundreds of swallow-tailed gulls and even more frigate birds. They accompanied us during our walks in the morning at Darwin Bay as well as in the afternoon at Prince Philip’s Steps.
Nazca boobies are also found by the hundreds here. Most of them are nesting, sitting in their white eggs waiting for their chicks to hatch so they can feed them and prepare them to fly out of the islands before the heat hits in January. Mockingbirds, Galápagos doves, cute Darwin finches, yellow warblers, marine iguanas, sea lions, and colorful Sally Lightfoot crabs where our companions on the morning and afternoon walks.
The pre-breakfast kayak outing was a blast for the early risers. And the second round of kayakers at 10:30 am was completely full and very successful. The highlight of the day was the deep water snorkeling exploring the sides of a collapsed caldera of the rim of the islands. We saw hundreds of colorful fish and a couple of sharks came along.
The afternoon highlights were the many short-eared owls we saw on the trail — about 15 sightings. What a fabulous way to end our dream week in the Galápagos Islands! Short-eared owls, shearwaters and storm petrels were another highlight of the day.
