In this archipelago there are over one hundred islands, each with its own beauty and character. This island, Espanola, is full of wildlife. It’s the oldest volcano in the Galapagos, and it’s been exposed to natural forces over a longer period of time than the others.

We took advantage of this amazing place by starting our activities very early and finishing very late, with a spectacular tropical sunset in paradise.

This island has just two visitor sites, and we explored one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The first one is called Gardener Bay, because there are lots of small satellite islands in this area. It has one of the most spectacular white sand beaches, with over three hundred Galapagos sea lions. This place is very good for kayaking along its very dramatic cliff formations lined with sea birds, prickly pear cactus, sea lions, and sea turtles. This place also contains a rockery reef cover with green algae which is the main food source for fish, marine iguanas, and turtles. That is the reason our morning activity at Gardener Bay was very intense with kayaking, snorkeling, walking along the beach, and swimming.

We continued our afternoon activities on the second visitor site, Punta Suarez. This area contains one of the largest population of Nazca boobies, sea lions, swallow-tailed gulls, marine iguanas, mocking birds, and lava lizards. Making the visit is a bit challenging, you must be careful not to step on these friendly animals! This place also has the only colony of endemic waved albatross in Galapagos. They come year after year to the same nesting ground at the beginning of April to nest, and at the end of December the whole colony goes back to their feeding ground off the west coast of South America.

We were very lucky to see a few of them still on this island. We also saw a immature albatross flapping its wings, probably gaining some muscles before he jumps off the cliff.  This juvenile will be back in Galapagos after four or five years, once he reaches sexual maturity.

It was an amazing day, full of adventure and good memories.