We have started another trip onboard the National Geographic Islander around the famous Galapagos Islands. Today for our first full day of activities we visited the island of Española. This island is by far the oldest in the archipelago. There are two locations we visited today, Gardner Bay and Punta Suarez.
Gardner Bay, which we visited during the morning, has turquoise waters. Here there is a large concentration of sea lions that use this place for resting after spending so much time fishing. Also there is an islet called Gardner, which is a very good location for snorkeling in calm waters and with colorful fish. So today we snorkeled around Gardner islet and enjoyed swimming with sea lions, turtles and fish. Later we had some time at the beach which gave us plenty of opportunities to interact with ecologically native species, such as mocking birds, pelicans and sea lions.
As the day and our expedition on Española continued, we moved our ship to Punta Suarez, which is located on the western coast of the island. Suarez is the place where every nature lover wishes to visit. There are birds flying overhead, animals courting and breathtaking landscapes. Here we landed during the afternoon to hike on rocky terrain to witness nature in the wild.
More sea lions were found here with males fighting for the control of the colony. The marine iguanas on this island are the most colorful in the Galapagos, and at this time of the year as the temperatures get lower, they form groups to sleep and to stay warm. The main attraction of Suarez are the largest birds in the islands, the albatross. They have just arrived and as they are monogamous, need to dance to find their mate. The landscape, the blowhole, the bird colonies, and the weather all combined to offer us the best possible walk and exposed our guests to some of the wonders of the Galapagos. It was just the first day, with many more to come, of exciting moments to be enjoyed.
