Hood Island
We started the day with a hot (and I mean hot!) morning walk around Punta Suarez. As we swelter in the heat, it's always surprising to see how the animals on the island continue with their daily routine, completely unhindered. Many of them are small, like the warbler finch we saw nest building right next to us. Smallness is a great way to avoid overheating, as the surface area of the bird is quite large relative to its volume, therefore enabling an efficient dissipation of heat. The bigger animals we saw, like the Nazca booby chicks, have colors and textures, which completely reflect heat: white and fluffy. And of course, there are the sealions! When they get hot, they take to the shade or simply slide into the water. What a life!
Our afternoon took us to the azure waters of Gardner Bay. Some of us lounged around just like the sealions, basking and wallowing. There was a particularly large group of snorkeling starters today, with most of these advancing to the deeper waters by the end of the day. The few of us who remained on the beach were lucky enough to see the brown pelican in the photo fly around us a few times. The small sardine-looking fish in the water around us were the bait we needed for a great view of this incredible bird fishing. As the brown pelican dives into the water, it opens its bill (unlike the boobies, who wisely keep it closed) and fills up its pouch with up to four gallons of water, and hopefully fish. It then strains its bill under water, and swallows up the remaining fish.
After finally returning on board, we appreciated a great sunset from our bar set up on the top of the Polaris. The evening activities were only just beginning……..
We started the day with a hot (and I mean hot!) morning walk around Punta Suarez. As we swelter in the heat, it's always surprising to see how the animals on the island continue with their daily routine, completely unhindered. Many of them are small, like the warbler finch we saw nest building right next to us. Smallness is a great way to avoid overheating, as the surface area of the bird is quite large relative to its volume, therefore enabling an efficient dissipation of heat. The bigger animals we saw, like the Nazca booby chicks, have colors and textures, which completely reflect heat: white and fluffy. And of course, there are the sealions! When they get hot, they take to the shade or simply slide into the water. What a life!
Our afternoon took us to the azure waters of Gardner Bay. Some of us lounged around just like the sealions, basking and wallowing. There was a particularly large group of snorkeling starters today, with most of these advancing to the deeper waters by the end of the day. The few of us who remained on the beach were lucky enough to see the brown pelican in the photo fly around us a few times. The small sardine-looking fish in the water around us were the bait we needed for a great view of this incredible bird fishing. As the brown pelican dives into the water, it opens its bill (unlike the boobies, who wisely keep it closed) and fills up its pouch with up to four gallons of water, and hopefully fish. It then strains its bill under water, and swallows up the remaining fish.
After finally returning on board, we appreciated a great sunset from our bar set up on the top of the Polaris. The evening activities were only just beginning……..
