Española Island
A nice morning with a cool breeze awaited us on Española. There is a magical feeling as you approach this place; the sea birds flying in search of fish, sea lions playing at the surf and approaching the Zodiacs as we headed to the landing site, marine iguanas still slumbering waiting for more sunshine to go to the rocky reefs full of seaweed for their daily meals. That’s Española Island. Nature at its most!!!
Our expedition started at Punta Suarez on the western side of this magnificent island. At the time of landing we were welcomed by hundreds of iguanas and sea lions spread around the rocks and sandy areas.
After a while, we were passing by the colony of Nazca boobies that nest by the thousands along the cliff’s edge, mixed up with swallow tailed gulls and tropic birds.
Being in this place is to experience a feeling of walking in a bird’s paradise especially as you walk among blue-footed boobies doing their mating ritual, others nesting and feeding their chicks. The morning is when they are more active and noisy, there is a lot of whistling and honking combined with sea lions barking by the sea…What a morning so far!
We continued to explore the island until we reached the blow hole; that happens to be a crack on the lava rocks at the sea side, where the waves produce fountains of water that reach over one hundred feet high.
This cliff is the best place to watch sea birds in flight right in front of your eyes. Among the many we could see we had flocks of gulls, nazca boobies, blue-footed boobies and the majestic waved albatross that was also seen on land doing their complex mating ritual.
In the afternoon we had a fantastic time on the beach watching sea lions and close encounters with their pups, kayaking was great as we explored the cliffs and coves around Gardner bay, but the highlight was definitely snorkeling with tropical fish and sea lions at Gardner islet! Unbelievable, waiting to see more.
A nice morning with a cool breeze awaited us on Española. There is a magical feeling as you approach this place; the sea birds flying in search of fish, sea lions playing at the surf and approaching the Zodiacs as we headed to the landing site, marine iguanas still slumbering waiting for more sunshine to go to the rocky reefs full of seaweed for their daily meals. That’s Española Island. Nature at its most!!!
Our expedition started at Punta Suarez on the western side of this magnificent island. At the time of landing we were welcomed by hundreds of iguanas and sea lions spread around the rocks and sandy areas.
After a while, we were passing by the colony of Nazca boobies that nest by the thousands along the cliff’s edge, mixed up with swallow tailed gulls and tropic birds.
Being in this place is to experience a feeling of walking in a bird’s paradise especially as you walk among blue-footed boobies doing their mating ritual, others nesting and feeding their chicks. The morning is when they are more active and noisy, there is a lot of whistling and honking combined with sea lions barking by the sea…What a morning so far!
We continued to explore the island until we reached the blow hole; that happens to be a crack on the lava rocks at the sea side, where the waves produce fountains of water that reach over one hundred feet high.
This cliff is the best place to watch sea birds in flight right in front of your eyes. Among the many we could see we had flocks of gulls, nazca boobies, blue-footed boobies and the majestic waved albatross that was also seen on land doing their complex mating ritual.
In the afternoon we had a fantastic time on the beach watching sea lions and close encounters with their pups, kayaking was great as we explored the cliffs and coves around Gardner bay, but the highlight was definitely snorkeling with tropical fish and sea lions at Gardner islet! Unbelievable, waiting to see more.
