Española (Hood) Island
Early this morning we disembarked in Punta Suarez, located at the westernmost point of Española Island. As soon we set foot ashore, we observed three Galápagos hawks beside the trail, almost like they were giving us the official welcome to the island!
The hawks made up a family: the parents were teaching their young one how to hunt, carefully observing a group of marine iguanas in front of them, but the juvenile was concentrated on a mockingbird instead. It tried to hunt the mockingbird, chasing it among the bushes, but that small bird could escape easily and the poor hawk had to come back again with his parents looking for another easier prey… an iguana, I suppose!
We continued along the path and found another surprise in front of us: many marine iguanas digging holes for nesting, all of them very dirty because of the dust, working patiently. One of them, however, was observing the rest of the females, and suddenly she stopped her work and attacked another female trying to steal the nest! They fought for more than five minutes, and finally the tiresome iguana was defeated and had to abandon her intention to have an easy nest.
Among the Nazca booby territory, we saw many chicks waiting for their parents and another group of adult Nazca boobies, dancing, looking for a pair, all of them involved in very noisy ritual. Española is perfect for this largest and heaviest of the boobies (as well as the enormous waved albatross during some periods of the year) because it is flat but surrounded by steep cliffs where, like an airstrip, they land and take off every day.
We eventually arrived to the blow hole; today we had high tide and it demonstrated all its power like a geyser, throwing water far up and away like an eruption. We took advantage of this, taking a group photo with that beautiful attraction behind.
In the afternoon, while some of the group went snorkeling or glass-bottom boating, we disembarked on the beach at Gardner Bay, where the water temperature was excellent, 83 degrees Fahrenheit. Some of us dove straight into the water whilst others starting walking among a huge colony of Galápagos sea lions, all of them resting silently without a beach master sea lion barking and killing the sounds of silence.
With a group of guests, we swam up to the rock in front of the beach and we saw two white-tipped sharks resting on the bottom, with a sea turtle in between of them: it was an incredible scene only imagined in movies or fantasies of our childhood.
Although for the geologist Española is dying, for me this island is life itself, and offers new surprises every time we visit.
Early this morning we disembarked in Punta Suarez, located at the westernmost point of Española Island. As soon we set foot ashore, we observed three Galápagos hawks beside the trail, almost like they were giving us the official welcome to the island!
The hawks made up a family: the parents were teaching their young one how to hunt, carefully observing a group of marine iguanas in front of them, but the juvenile was concentrated on a mockingbird instead. It tried to hunt the mockingbird, chasing it among the bushes, but that small bird could escape easily and the poor hawk had to come back again with his parents looking for another easier prey… an iguana, I suppose!
We continued along the path and found another surprise in front of us: many marine iguanas digging holes for nesting, all of them very dirty because of the dust, working patiently. One of them, however, was observing the rest of the females, and suddenly she stopped her work and attacked another female trying to steal the nest! They fought for more than five minutes, and finally the tiresome iguana was defeated and had to abandon her intention to have an easy nest.
Among the Nazca booby territory, we saw many chicks waiting for their parents and another group of adult Nazca boobies, dancing, looking for a pair, all of them involved in very noisy ritual. Española is perfect for this largest and heaviest of the boobies (as well as the enormous waved albatross during some periods of the year) because it is flat but surrounded by steep cliffs where, like an airstrip, they land and take off every day.
We eventually arrived to the blow hole; today we had high tide and it demonstrated all its power like a geyser, throwing water far up and away like an eruption. We took advantage of this, taking a group photo with that beautiful attraction behind.
In the afternoon, while some of the group went snorkeling or glass-bottom boating, we disembarked on the beach at Gardner Bay, where the water temperature was excellent, 83 degrees Fahrenheit. Some of us dove straight into the water whilst others starting walking among a huge colony of Galápagos sea lions, all of them resting silently without a beach master sea lion barking and killing the sounds of silence.
With a group of guests, we swam up to the rock in front of the beach and we saw two white-tipped sharks resting on the bottom, with a sea turtle in between of them: it was an incredible scene only imagined in movies or fantasies of our childhood.
Although for the geologist Española is dying, for me this island is life itself, and offers new surprises every time we visit.
