Gardner Bay
Our day started with a beach excursion to Gardner Bay on Espanola Island. The beach was about 500m away, so I asked if I could swim to shore. With a dingy next to me, I set off. It was a refreshing but also quite tiring swim as I haven’t really done any exercise in about six months.
The beach walk was lovely and very beautiful. We saw pelicans, hoot mockingbirds who drink blood from juvenile birds on the island due to the lack of fresh water. We also saw a couple of marine iguanas swimming through the waves and clinging onto rocks – it was great to watch them.
A few of us decided to swim back to the boat – David, Christoph, Derek and me – which meant we were properly toast by mid-morning!
Afterwards we went snorkelling and it was again fantastic. The water is so clear and the underwater life so plentiful it is unlike anything we have seen before. We saw many fish, including trumpet fish, angel fish, parrot fish, surgeon fish, huge starfish, a small Galapagos shark and the most beautiful coral.
Lunch was a seafood barbeque, which was super exciting! The chef had prepared octopus, langoustines, tuna, squid and fresh vegetables. Yum!
After lunch we had a long walk on Punta Suarez on Espanola Island where we saw an abundance of wildlife. We stopped by the albatross “runway”, an area where these birds normally take off and land. At this time of year it is deserted as albatrosses leave for the colder south during early January.
Galapagos hawks flew over our heads and went to sit on some rocks straight ahead of us. We walked over and admired these incredible predators from mere meters away. I just cannot get used to the fact that such wild animals allow humans so close to them. A marine iguana was stuck in-between two hawks. I say stuck because iguanas are their main source of food and I think this little fellow knew he was one wrong step away from being their next meal!
There were hundreds of Nazca boobies around, many busy raising their chicks – big, fluffy, white babies almost the same size as the adults but with a distinct fluff that makes them look like balls of candy floss.
Morris frantically started waving his arms, which could only mean something exciting. There was a baby albatross!! We couldn’t believe it. By this time they should’ve all left, but this one was still waiting for his parents to return from their last feed before they set off on a long journey. The young albatross will leave with them and will stay in the air for four years, before returning to the Galapagos.
While I’m detailing the highlights, each trip to shore was so incredibly full of wildlife it is impossible to mention them all. In-between the hawks, boobies and albatross we saw marine iguanas, frigate birds, oyster catchers, sea lions and many beautiful and bright-coloured crabs. It is overwhelming, in a good way, to be surrounded by so many incredible animals – many of which we have seen for the first time.
As usual, everyone went to bed quite early. Derek wanted to venture outside to look at the night sky as there was no moon. It would have been quite spectacular had it not been for the annoying lighthouse light coming around every five seconds! Still, we could see the milky way quite clearly and just marvelled at the beautiful sky.