Española Island, 10/14/2024, National Geographic Islander II
Aboard the
National Geographic Islander II
Galápagos
Today we are visiting Española Island, one of the oldest islands of the archipelago. We started the day kayaking along the cliffside where we found blue-footed boobies and many sea turtles. Later, we went snorkeling at nearby Garner Islet, a place full of life and color.
In the afternoon, we hiked on one of the most spectacular trails of the Galapagos at Punta Suarez where we walked through a nesting colony of Nazca boobies and waved albatross. These beautiful creatures are still displaying and courting. We admired the beauty of their dance with the light of the sunset.
Ramiro is Ecuadorian, born in the highlands and raised by the sea. Growing up in the Galapagos was for him an opportunity to learn from up close the importance of understanding and respecting all forms of life. He started his studies in biology and e...
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We started our day with a Zodiac ride around Punta Vicente Roca. We also had an amazing snorkel excursion among turtles and sea lions. In the afternoon, we topped off a lovely day with an amazing walk on lava at Punta Espinoza on Fernandina Island, which happens to be an island so pristine that it doesn’t have feral mammals. What it does have is a lava field full of iguanas. This area started to erode, changing the entire topography of the island, making it perfect for these iguanas to find sedimentary areas to nest.
North Seymour is known for having the largest nesting colony of magnificent frigatebirds in the Galapagos Islands. On the natural history walk along the dry palo santo forest, we encountered not only male frigatebirds displaying the gular pouches, but countless yellow land iguanas. Lava lizards and different species of finches were also seen. In the afternoon, National Geographic Islander II relocated to our next island, Rabida. This island offered an exotic landscape, as its sand is red colored due to the large concentration of iron in its lava. Here, we practiced snorkeling and later in the afternoon we went back to explore the brackish water lagoon behind the beach where flamingos are often observed. It was another spectacular day in the Galapagos Islands!
Our first full day of our expedition was spent exploring Santa Cruz Island, a central island of the archipelago with plenty of human and wildlife attractions. After we landed, a bus took us to El Trapiche, a great historical site in the highlands of Santa Cruz which provided a great example of how people who came to Galapagos at the beginning of its colonization survived. We learned how coffee, cacao, and sugar cane products, including sugar cane alcohol, is produced. We even had the chance to taste all of these delicious products. We took the bus again and drove to a higher location on Santa Cruz Island, to Los Gemelos. These outstanding geological formations are sinkholes of approximately 100-meters deep, surrounded by a unique Scalesia pedunculata forest. Walking through this dense forest was amazing due to the presence of different species of Darwin’s finches. A delicious lunch was waiting for us at a mesmerizing site, a ranch/restaurant surrounded by Galapagos giant tortoises. After we finished our lunch, we enjoyed a stroll to look for this gigantic and beautiful reptile, which gave us the chance to take wonderful pictures with them.
