Española Island
The island awoke in the mist this morning. A pale coast outline highlighted by the wake was defining the shore. I saw in this the coming of the Humboldt Current cold water back to the archipelago. The warm rainy season gives way to the cold and the drought.
Once we landed at Punta Suarez, I couldn’t wait to visit the albatross, so we took the trail that leads us directly to their territory. I can’t prevent myself from comparing those birds resting on the rock to a wreckage, as they seem so out of place. Albatrosses belong to the sea, to the air, not to land. Their wings are too long, they can’t unfold them. Their webbed feet are too broad, they can’t walk with them. Their bodies yearn for the unlimited space the ocean and skies provide them. But they came here to accomplish the most elemental function of living organisms: to transmit their genes to the next generation. Their courtship remains a beautiful celebration of life. When I observe them flying, I understand very well why they have been worshiped and raised in poetry since the age of the first navigator. I love albatrosses.
There is another animal I enjoy a lot: the sea lion. There is a large colony of them at Gardner Bay. The snorkeling activity is wonderful there for them precisely. They are extremely curious and intelligent, so they love to play, but they also like to share their game. Today it’s a young male, 7 month old approximately, that took the initiative of the game by bringing from the bottom of the sea an old shell of sand dollars covered by colorful calcarean algae and other marine invertebrates. He was playing with the swinging motion the dish took at sinking. So I dove and collected the toy to bring it back to the surface. My finned friend caught it in his mouth and whirled around me as an invitation to seize the shell from him. So I did. And this is how a forgotten sand dollars shell turned into a conduit for a relationship between two species, in mutual respect and curiosity. This is to me the most powerful message the Galápagos can bring us.
