In honor of Valentine's Day, this week's photos from the field feature romantic sunrises and sunsets from Vietnam and Baja California, animal courtships in the Galápagos, and undersea heart-hands in French Polynesia.
Today we woke with the shining stars and took Zodiacs ashore to meet our coaches for a trip to Chale, a small town on the shores of Magdalena Bay. The goal was to find some wintering gray whales, magnificent leviathans which frequent this coast to give birth before the long migration back to their Arctic feeding grounds. These whales did not disappoint! Spyhopping, breaching, and even a bit of tail flukes. As a result, there were lots of smiles and laughter all around! We returned to the town for lunch and then headed back out on the local boats for a second round. As we returned to the ship, the sun set over La Paz, with glassy waters of gold in the harbor, and pink clouds above. The constellations of Orion, Taurus, and the Pleiades shone over our Zodiacs on our way back to dinner aboard National Geographic Venture .
Over five days ago, we began our journey in Panama and now we’re on our last day in Costa Rica. We decided to explore one of the most important areas in terms of biodiversity, the Osa Peninsula. The Osa Peninsula is home to approximately 4% of the biodiversity in the world. For many years, people tried to mine the area because it is very rich in minerals, specifically gold. Over thirty years ago the government of Costa Rica decided to promote the country as a tourist destination and today it is a pioneer of sustainability in Central America. We began our morning activities offering different options for our guests. The first activity was a coastal walk, and some had the opportunity to see a boa, a white-throated capuchin monkey, and a mantled howler monkey. In the afternoon, part of our group chose to go for a waterfall hike led by our naturalists, and they finished at a swimming hole where they took time to relax and enjoy themselves. Other guests took the long Pargo trail where they saw a Central American spider monkey, and a tapir, one of the most difficult animals to see in the tropics. We finished our day with an amazing sunset from the bow of the National Geographic Quest , a great end to a great day.
With a very relaxing pre-breakfast hike, our day began. We had a nice time seeing iguanas and lots of cacti. In the afternoon, we visited Santa Fe Island where we snorkeled with a bunch of reef fish species and even saw a hawksbill turtle, a rare discovery of the day. We finished the day surrounded by sea lions and the pale land iguanas from Santa Fe. At night we enjoyed a nice barbecue dinner.
Today we explored the island of Santa Cruz. We anchored at Academy Bay and after breakfast went to the Fausto Llerena Giant Tortoise Breeding Center. We saw tortoises, from newborn to adult. After touring the center, our guests had time to explore the town independently and immerse themselves in the local culture. After lunch, we went to El Manzanillo Ranch and there we looked for Galapagos giant tortoises in the wild. There were many along the way to the ranch as well as on the property. We found large males, females, and some young individuals. We also had the chance to learn about the local history with the family that owns this ranch.
Santa Cruz Island is in the heart of the Galapagos, is the second largest in size, and is the most populated by humans. Both the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos National Park administrations are based here. We visited the Tortoise Breeding Center, and the captive breeding program allowed us to understand the value of protecting their habitat through responsible use. We made our way to the highlands where we found ourselves in a different world, with lush green vegetation serving as a home for large reptiles. We observed the giant tortoises in their natural habitat as well as giant daisy-like trees, a rare species of the Galapagos Island. Here we enjoyed a pure sense of exploration at different elevations and in different habitats.
