Española Island
We had an amazing day! Our expedition started on Española Island, after a great breakfast we were ready to visit to the southernmost island of the Galápagos. Española Island is considered to be the oldest in this remote archipelago. It is home to thousands of seabirds as well. Due to its location, this island was probably the first place of arrival for most animal and plant species. Many of them eventually colonized the island and made it their permanent home. Española Island is very flat and dry, hence it is an ideal nesting site for pelagic seabird voyagers such as the Nazca boobies, swallow tailed gulls and the iconic waved albatross. This majestic creature happens to be the largest seabird species found in the islands. We visited Punta Suarez, besides the abundant wildlife found here the astonishing landscape talks for itself. We had the chance to take a break in the middle of the trail to observe the beautiful volcanic coastline. A blow hole surrounded by very high vertical cliffs is home to a myriad of birds. The view is just stunning. An impressive bird of prey was observed at a close range as well, the rare Galápagos Hawk
In the afternoon, we disembarked at the northern side of the island. We visited a bay with aquamarine waters surrounded by a cluster of small rocky islets. This superb place is known as Gardner Bay. The white sandy beach of this paradisiacal place is considered to be the most beautiful one in the Galápagos archipelago. A large colony of Galápagos sea lions live in the bay. At this time of the year, everywhere you look you can observe sea lion pups. Snorkeling in the Galápagos waters was a popular activity today. We found fish species from different regions of the world. Some species from tropical waters such as parrotfish and king angelfish, and others from cooler regions such as Peruvian grunts and Mexican hogfish; just to mention a few of the many colorful reef fish species we saw while snorkeling.
We had an amazing day! Our expedition started on Española Island, after a great breakfast we were ready to visit to the southernmost island of the Galápagos. Española Island is considered to be the oldest in this remote archipelago. It is home to thousands of seabirds as well. Due to its location, this island was probably the first place of arrival for most animal and plant species. Many of them eventually colonized the island and made it their permanent home. Española Island is very flat and dry, hence it is an ideal nesting site for pelagic seabird voyagers such as the Nazca boobies, swallow tailed gulls and the iconic waved albatross. This majestic creature happens to be the largest seabird species found in the islands. We visited Punta Suarez, besides the abundant wildlife found here the astonishing landscape talks for itself. We had the chance to take a break in the middle of the trail to observe the beautiful volcanic coastline. A blow hole surrounded by very high vertical cliffs is home to a myriad of birds. The view is just stunning. An impressive bird of prey was observed at a close range as well, the rare Galápagos Hawk
In the afternoon, we disembarked at the northern side of the island. We visited a bay with aquamarine waters surrounded by a cluster of small rocky islets. This superb place is known as Gardner Bay. The white sandy beach of this paradisiacal place is considered to be the most beautiful one in the Galápagos archipelago. A large colony of Galápagos sea lions live in the bay. At this time of the year, everywhere you look you can observe sea lion pups. Snorkeling in the Galápagos waters was a popular activity today. We found fish species from different regions of the world. Some species from tropical waters such as parrotfish and king angelfish, and others from cooler regions such as Peruvian grunts and Mexican hogfish; just to mention a few of the many colorful reef fish species we saw while snorkeling.
