Espanola Island: Punta Suarez and Gardner Bay
Finding ourselves on the oldest island in the archipelago, we were immediately immersed in the uniqueness of adaptation and evolution, as we were surrounded by the very same species that Darwin used as examples of his theory of evolution.
Sea lions were our welcoming committee, just lying on the dock we needed to disembark on, and next to them were marine iguanas which evolved millions of years ago from land iguanas and now have gained “Christmas” colors in unbelievable shades of green and red.
But nature and evolution go further yet, and in order to protect their offspring, we spotted American Oystercatchers dive bombing Galápagos hawks. The blue color of booby feet, well, has many theories about it, but for sure it is brighter during breeding season. The booby dance is so special that watching it made everybody grab their cameras to take pictures and imagine the future of the couple dancing while only a few feet away many other couples were doing the same, just the right place to be, at the right time….
And in Gardner Bay, there were sea lions as far as we could see on the white sands formed from coral: beach masters, females, pups rolling in the waves, and young males wrestling practicing for future territorial fights only 2 feet away!
Finding ourselves on the oldest island in the archipelago, we were immediately immersed in the uniqueness of adaptation and evolution, as we were surrounded by the very same species that Darwin used as examples of his theory of evolution.
Sea lions were our welcoming committee, just lying on the dock we needed to disembark on, and next to them were marine iguanas which evolved millions of years ago from land iguanas and now have gained “Christmas” colors in unbelievable shades of green and red.
But nature and evolution go further yet, and in order to protect their offspring, we spotted American Oystercatchers dive bombing Galápagos hawks. The blue color of booby feet, well, has many theories about it, but for sure it is brighter during breeding season. The booby dance is so special that watching it made everybody grab their cameras to take pictures and imagine the future of the couple dancing while only a few feet away many other couples were doing the same, just the right place to be, at the right time….
And in Gardner Bay, there were sea lions as far as we could see on the white sands formed from coral: beach masters, females, pups rolling in the waves, and young males wrestling practicing for future territorial fights only 2 feet away!
