Genovesa Island
We spent today at Genovesa Island, also known as Tower Island. We entered Darwin Bay, a partially submerged caldera (collapsed volcanic center), through a narrow, shallow underwater channel into the bay. On this island are a multitude of birds and we saw many of them: red-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls and their fuzzy chicks, great frigate birds, Galapagos mockingbirds, and also saw the rare white morph of the red-footed booby. Some of us walked on a lava flow up onto a low bluff from where we had a nice view of the caldera. After the walk some chose to snorkel off the beach, others in deep water, and all saw many different kinds of tropical fish including eagle rays!
In the afternoon we took the pangas to Prince Phillips Steps, a set of natural stairs which are the only access to the high cliffs surrounding Darwin Bay. As we walked along the cliffs we saw many Nazca boobies (in fact we count them regularly for the Charles Darwin Research Station), and here we searched for the short-eared owl, with success. It was another wonderful day on the paradise.
We spent today at Genovesa Island, also known as Tower Island. We entered Darwin Bay, a partially submerged caldera (collapsed volcanic center), through a narrow, shallow underwater channel into the bay. On this island are a multitude of birds and we saw many of them: red-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls and their fuzzy chicks, great frigate birds, Galapagos mockingbirds, and also saw the rare white morph of the red-footed booby. Some of us walked on a lava flow up onto a low bluff from where we had a nice view of the caldera. After the walk some chose to snorkel off the beach, others in deep water, and all saw many different kinds of tropical fish including eagle rays!
In the afternoon we took the pangas to Prince Phillips Steps, a set of natural stairs which are the only access to the high cliffs surrounding Darwin Bay. As we walked along the cliffs we saw many Nazca boobies (in fact we count them regularly for the Charles Darwin Research Station), and here we searched for the short-eared owl, with success. It was another wonderful day on the paradise.
