Bartolome and Chinese Hat, 4/18/2024, National Geographic Endeavour II
Aboard the
National Geographic Endeavour II
Galápagos
Today we explored Bartolome and Chinese Hat, two of the best spots on the island of Santiago. We had special encounters throughout the day, spotting the Galapagos penguin, sea lions, and blue-footed boobies. We also saw a number of sea creatures during our snorkeling activities.
We finished the day with a delicious dinner on the sky deck of National Geographic Endeavour II.
Javier 's passion for birds and nature began as a child exploring the Pyrenees mountains with his father. The mystery that surrounds the Lammergeier silhouette triggered his curiosity and interest towards wildlife. Javier studied biology in Spain and...
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This morning National Geographic Endeavour II anchored at Santa Cruz Island. We started the day visiting the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center. During this visit we had the opportunity to see babies as well as different morph types of giant tortoises. Afterwards, we headed to the highlands of Santa Cruz to visit a local hydroponic farm. Here we saw how the lettuce we consume on board grows with this environmentally friendly technique. In the afternoon we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the highlands, and we had the opportunity to see the giant tortoises along their migration route. It was beautiful and a great learning experience!
Today we visited Floreana Island. An early hike brought us to Punta Cormorant where we witnessed the start of the breeding season of the blue-footed boobies by observing the famous blue-footed booby courting dance! Then a few yards away, we observed flamingos in the brackish water lagoon. What a great start to a great day! After breakfast we went to Champion Islet and off we went for Zodiac rides and later for deep water snorkeling and glass bottom boat rides. It was like swimming in an aquarium! The afternoon was filled with activities: two rounds of kayaking, visiting the famous Post Office Barrel, swimming, and snorkeling off the beach. To cap it all off, sunset was gorgeous. It was an amazing day in paradise.
Española Island is considered the oldest of the Galapagos Islands. This island is home to diverse and abundant species, even if from afar it looks like a deserted island. Mockingbirds, endemic to this islands, lava lizards, and large colonies of sea lions are a few of the species that we observed today. Our morning took us to one of the most wonderful and pristine white sandy beaches in the world, Gardner Bay. Here we could try out our snorkeling gear and practice some snorkeling among curious baby sea lions that swam by. We couldn’t miss the opportunity to take our guests on a boat ride to observe the breathtaking coastline of Española. Its dramatic cliffs make the perfect runway for waved albatrosses to take off, as they are a very heavy bird. This species of albatross only nest on this tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and our guests were lucky to observe the first albatrosses of the season, as April is the month in which they return to breed.
