Española Island
As always, it is very exiting to return to this island after a few weeks away and see that nothing has changed, everything is going as smoothly as ever, and the familiar animals I have come to love are present everywhere.
Here I walk with new friends made on board this trip, among what seem like old friends strewn along the beach at Gardner Bay: the ubiquitous, endemic Galápagos sea lions.
How great to come back and be welcomed by the now comfortable feeling of watching creatures from another world, and being watched back. It is nice to feel that we are sharing a place as spectacular as this with creatures other than humans, in perfect harmony. It really is quite a life they lead and have allowed us into: lazy days in between fishing outings lolling on a soft white beach blessed with pleasant, tropical weather and warm turquoise waters and with a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean.
For the Galápagos sea lion it is not too difficult to find fish here: they just need to go a short distance offshore and spend a couple of hours fishing, choosing any fish that they like and then come back and rest. These creatures are so well adapted to this submarine world that they can easily attain depths of over 300 hundred feet in no time at all, then come back to the surface as though nothing had happened: it is amazing! Today we spent half our day observing this aquatic world, spellbound as these animals played with every thing that came their way, both in the water and on the beach.
These delightful animals really put on a hilarious show for us all. Some of the sea lions then needed to recover from their antics and dozed off on the beach, often using neighbouring sea lions as pillows, as we can see in this picture.
This is the way that life goes on day after day here on Gardner Beach in Española Island.
As always, it is very exiting to return to this island after a few weeks away and see that nothing has changed, everything is going as smoothly as ever, and the familiar animals I have come to love are present everywhere.
Here I walk with new friends made on board this trip, among what seem like old friends strewn along the beach at Gardner Bay: the ubiquitous, endemic Galápagos sea lions.
How great to come back and be welcomed by the now comfortable feeling of watching creatures from another world, and being watched back. It is nice to feel that we are sharing a place as spectacular as this with creatures other than humans, in perfect harmony. It really is quite a life they lead and have allowed us into: lazy days in between fishing outings lolling on a soft white beach blessed with pleasant, tropical weather and warm turquoise waters and with a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean.
For the Galápagos sea lion it is not too difficult to find fish here: they just need to go a short distance offshore and spend a couple of hours fishing, choosing any fish that they like and then come back and rest. These creatures are so well adapted to this submarine world that they can easily attain depths of over 300 hundred feet in no time at all, then come back to the surface as though nothing had happened: it is amazing! Today we spent half our day observing this aquatic world, spellbound as these animals played with every thing that came their way, both in the water and on the beach.
These delightful animals really put on a hilarious show for us all. Some of the sea lions then needed to recover from their antics and dozed off on the beach, often using neighbouring sea lions as pillows, as we can see in this picture.
This is the way that life goes on day after day here on Gardner Beach in Española Island.
