Española Island
With five million years since its formation, Española is considered one of the oldest of a group of islands located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Española is also proof that evolution works at an incredible speed. The biodiversity of plants and animals in this rather tiny archipelago is great and makes it a one-of-a-kind place.
Our walk this morning started out at Punta Suarez, where the marine iguanas appeared to be gathered to greet us. Their menacing faces (that only a mother would love!) proved to be only an “accident of creation”, since they are very peaceful animals. Their ancient, rather prehistoric looks make us believe we have been transported back in time. The incredible environmental pressure to survive on these hostile islands drove them to the sea to forage on marine algae. No other lizard in the world has adopted this feeding technique.
The sea lions were one of the day’s highlights, particularly for our youngest guests. Curious teenage sea lions came up for a close look and made us wonder “who was watching whom”? The blue-footed bobbies, some of which were nesting right in the trail, were in full courtship and displayed their dancing abilities.
An hour into our hike on the island, we finally encounter the famous waved albatross. These ocean birds breed only in the Galapagos. Today we were lucky enough to even see their mating dance.
And when we thought that we had seen it all for this day, a group of more than a hundred dolphins were sighted about a mile from where the ship was anchored. Zodiacs were dispatched to encounter them, and for about an hour we enjoyed their acrobatics jumps and watching them ride along at the bow of the rubber boats. As you can tell, life is anything but boring in this part of the world…
With five million years since its formation, Española is considered one of the oldest of a group of islands located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Española is also proof that evolution works at an incredible speed. The biodiversity of plants and animals in this rather tiny archipelago is great and makes it a one-of-a-kind place.
Our walk this morning started out at Punta Suarez, where the marine iguanas appeared to be gathered to greet us. Their menacing faces (that only a mother would love!) proved to be only an “accident of creation”, since they are very peaceful animals. Their ancient, rather prehistoric looks make us believe we have been transported back in time. The incredible environmental pressure to survive on these hostile islands drove them to the sea to forage on marine algae. No other lizard in the world has adopted this feeding technique.
The sea lions were one of the day’s highlights, particularly for our youngest guests. Curious teenage sea lions came up for a close look and made us wonder “who was watching whom”? The blue-footed bobbies, some of which were nesting right in the trail, were in full courtship and displayed their dancing abilities.
An hour into our hike on the island, we finally encounter the famous waved albatross. These ocean birds breed only in the Galapagos. Today we were lucky enough to even see their mating dance.
And when we thought that we had seen it all for this day, a group of more than a hundred dolphins were sighted about a mile from where the ship was anchored. Zodiacs were dispatched to encounter them, and for about an hour we enjoyed their acrobatics jumps and watching them ride along at the bow of the rubber boats. As you can tell, life is anything but boring in this part of the world…
