Española Island
We slept in a bit today, rolled - yawning - out of our beds at the very civilized hour of 8:00am and then headed to yet another scrumptious meal in the Islander dining room. Afterwards we chose between snorkeling, kayaking and/or spending time on a lovely white sand beach in Gardner Bay. The snorkelers swam in calm, clear turquoise waters with colorful fish and a few graceful, twirling and swirling sea lions. Our two groups of kayakers paddled and explored with Ernesto for an hour and a half along the northern shore of the island and were picked up by Zodiac. Most of us spent some time on the beach – and there were a few who would have gladly spent the entire day! We had another perfect, cool but sunny day, and with free time to watch the antics of the dozens of sea lions that were sprawled along the beach, lazing on the fine white sand, no one was in a hurry to return to the ship.
After lunch, and a short siesta, Bob Drewes of the California Academy of Sciences led a discussion on Charles Darwin and his Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection. And then we headed out to view the end results of this marvelous process in the natural setting of Punta Suarez, on the western point of Española Island.
We have had many fabulous, unforgettable walks this week, as we have treaded and explored the varied trails on each of the different islands found in this magical archipelago. This afternoon’s hike – the last one of our trip – was right up there among the best! As we motored in towards shore we watched with delight as groups of sea lions body surfing in the breakers. Cheeky, endemic Española mocking birds peeped and hopped at our feet and we watched our step as we made our way carefully over rounded lava boulders where large lava lizards (also endemic to this one island) and reddish marine iguanas basked. The chance for very close observation of the waved albatross was amazing: we watched some courtship, found a newly laid egg and tried to get their photos as they soared above the dramatic cliffs that they use for take off.
A small group of our guests decided to avoid the rocky trail, so panguero Ricky and I took them out around the point in a Zodiac. We had a wonderful cruise among flitting Galápagos shearwaters and Nazca boobies. Several handsome waved albatross soared close by so we too got a good look at these noble birds. And from the sea-side we watched the spray from the blow-hole shoot 60 feet into the air.
Everyone had a magnificent final afternoon, and as we returned to the ship and the orange ball of the sun slipped into the ocean below the horizon, many of us were sad to see this expedition come to an end. The week has gone by so fast! We have seen, experienced and shared so many memorable moments. It has been an unforgettable trip: long may the enchanted islands of Galápagos endure!
We slept in a bit today, rolled - yawning - out of our beds at the very civilized hour of 8:00am and then headed to yet another scrumptious meal in the Islander dining room. Afterwards we chose between snorkeling, kayaking and/or spending time on a lovely white sand beach in Gardner Bay. The snorkelers swam in calm, clear turquoise waters with colorful fish and a few graceful, twirling and swirling sea lions. Our two groups of kayakers paddled and explored with Ernesto for an hour and a half along the northern shore of the island and were picked up by Zodiac. Most of us spent some time on the beach – and there were a few who would have gladly spent the entire day! We had another perfect, cool but sunny day, and with free time to watch the antics of the dozens of sea lions that were sprawled along the beach, lazing on the fine white sand, no one was in a hurry to return to the ship.
After lunch, and a short siesta, Bob Drewes of the California Academy of Sciences led a discussion on Charles Darwin and his Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection. And then we headed out to view the end results of this marvelous process in the natural setting of Punta Suarez, on the western point of Española Island.
We have had many fabulous, unforgettable walks this week, as we have treaded and explored the varied trails on each of the different islands found in this magical archipelago. This afternoon’s hike – the last one of our trip – was right up there among the best! As we motored in towards shore we watched with delight as groups of sea lions body surfing in the breakers. Cheeky, endemic Española mocking birds peeped and hopped at our feet and we watched our step as we made our way carefully over rounded lava boulders where large lava lizards (also endemic to this one island) and reddish marine iguanas basked. The chance for very close observation of the waved albatross was amazing: we watched some courtship, found a newly laid egg and tried to get their photos as they soared above the dramatic cliffs that they use for take off.
A small group of our guests decided to avoid the rocky trail, so panguero Ricky and I took them out around the point in a Zodiac. We had a wonderful cruise among flitting Galápagos shearwaters and Nazca boobies. Several handsome waved albatross soared close by so we too got a good look at these noble birds. And from the sea-side we watched the spray from the blow-hole shoot 60 feet into the air.
Everyone had a magnificent final afternoon, and as we returned to the ship and the orange ball of the sun slipped into the ocean below the horizon, many of us were sad to see this expedition come to an end. The week has gone by so fast! We have seen, experienced and shared so many memorable moments. It has been an unforgettable trip: long may the enchanted islands of Galápagos endure!
