Espanola Island
It is already our second day in the marvelous, yet mysterious Galápagos Islands. We are now ready to explore the oldest of them all. Even from the ship we could see a commotion, a lot of movement; there is something happening on this little piece of land.
Once we got closer, we could see what was happening; in one side of the dock we observed sea lions swimming, on the other side, marine iguanas sunbathing. We also could see lizards running from one place to the other everywhere! It seems as if they all knew that we were arriving, and decided to come and give us the warmest welcome to their island. And yes indeed, we did feel welcome!
Espanola is such a magical island. It is a very special place to all of us, especially if you call the Galápagos your home, like in my case. We started walking on the path and began to behold some of the weirdest looking animals we had ever seen, marine iguanas! We were all even more surprised when we saw a few of them entering the water and disappearing with the coming and going of the waves. These creatures are expert divers, and that is their usual morning behavior. It was also amazing to see these prehistoric creatures walking wildly between us and yet ignoring us completely.
Two of the highlights for both naturalists and guests were to see so many Nazca Booby chicks and the last of the Waved Albatrosses still on the island. It is precisely during this time of the year that the waved albatross begin their yearly migration following the southern currents.
It was very refreshing to see such an amount of wildlife being fearless to humans. We tried to capture as much as we could with our cameras and videos, but probably the best of the ideas was to simply sit down and observe, hoping that the memories would never go away.
Wait…if you were thinking that the day was over, you’re wrong! This was only the morning! We also had the opportunity to take part in lots of water activities such as swimming, deep water snorkeling and of course kayaking. This day had a little bit (or a lot) for everyone, both on land and underwater. It has been a truly magnificent start off for what I am sure will become an unforgettable journey.
It is already our second day in the marvelous, yet mysterious Galápagos Islands. We are now ready to explore the oldest of them all. Even from the ship we could see a commotion, a lot of movement; there is something happening on this little piece of land.
Once we got closer, we could see what was happening; in one side of the dock we observed sea lions swimming, on the other side, marine iguanas sunbathing. We also could see lizards running from one place to the other everywhere! It seems as if they all knew that we were arriving, and decided to come and give us the warmest welcome to their island. And yes indeed, we did feel welcome!
Espanola is such a magical island. It is a very special place to all of us, especially if you call the Galápagos your home, like in my case. We started walking on the path and began to behold some of the weirdest looking animals we had ever seen, marine iguanas! We were all even more surprised when we saw a few of them entering the water and disappearing with the coming and going of the waves. These creatures are expert divers, and that is their usual morning behavior. It was also amazing to see these prehistoric creatures walking wildly between us and yet ignoring us completely.
Two of the highlights for both naturalists and guests were to see so many Nazca Booby chicks and the last of the Waved Albatrosses still on the island. It is precisely during this time of the year that the waved albatross begin their yearly migration following the southern currents.
It was very refreshing to see such an amount of wildlife being fearless to humans. We tried to capture as much as we could with our cameras and videos, but probably the best of the ideas was to simply sit down and observe, hoping that the memories would never go away.
Wait…if you were thinking that the day was over, you’re wrong! This was only the morning! We also had the opportunity to take part in lots of water activities such as swimming, deep water snorkeling and of course kayaking. This day had a little bit (or a lot) for everyone, both on land and underwater. It has been a truly magnificent start off for what I am sure will become an unforgettable journey.
