Espanola Island
It was with great feeling that I landed on the long white beach of Gardner Bay, on the northern shoreline of Española Island this afternoon. It's been a couple of months since I've been back, and it feels good to have the fine white sand between my toes and the turquoise waters of the bay in front of me. A goodly number of Galapagos sea lions are lying in piles along the beach. The tide is coming in, and it will be a high one, almost 8 feet. The waves sneak their way up amongst the towels and gear left behind by our guests wandering the beach. We quickly move everything out of reach. A cluster of people standing, laughing, captivated by something going on in the water's edge catches my attention, and I make my way there out of curiosity. Some of our younger guests are rolling in the surf, and mingling freely in and out and between is a young sea lion. He/she knows full well they are his equals. More his size. In fact once, as a roller slides him up the beach, almost to the knees of an adult human, he glances up, takes in the towering form, starts back in shock, snorts in alarm, and shoots back to a safe distance, where his attention is once again immediately taken with the younger, shorter, crowd. Face to face encounters. Shrieks of excitement get him going in jumps, belly flops and pop-ups.
The entire day was spectacular, the afternoon delicious. Not only sea lion encounters as described, but spotted eagle rays in a courtship frenzy cruising the water's edge, feet from shore had many of us trailing them back and forth in amazement and delight. It's good to be back.
It was with great feeling that I landed on the long white beach of Gardner Bay, on the northern shoreline of Española Island this afternoon. It's been a couple of months since I've been back, and it feels good to have the fine white sand between my toes and the turquoise waters of the bay in front of me. A goodly number of Galapagos sea lions are lying in piles along the beach. The tide is coming in, and it will be a high one, almost 8 feet. The waves sneak their way up amongst the towels and gear left behind by our guests wandering the beach. We quickly move everything out of reach. A cluster of people standing, laughing, captivated by something going on in the water's edge catches my attention, and I make my way there out of curiosity. Some of our younger guests are rolling in the surf, and mingling freely in and out and between is a young sea lion. He/she knows full well they are his equals. More his size. In fact once, as a roller slides him up the beach, almost to the knees of an adult human, he glances up, takes in the towering form, starts back in shock, snorts in alarm, and shoots back to a safe distance, where his attention is once again immediately taken with the younger, shorter, crowd. Face to face encounters. Shrieks of excitement get him going in jumps, belly flops and pop-ups.
The entire day was spectacular, the afternoon delicious. Not only sea lion encounters as described, but spotted eagle rays in a courtship frenzy cruising the water's edge, feet from shore had many of us trailing them back and forth in amazement and delight. It's good to be back.
