Española Island
Our first full day was dedicated to Española Island, the oldest and most fascinating Island of the archipelago.
The morning started very early at Gardner Bay with an optional kayak outing along the volcanic coastline, where seabirds, sea lions, sea turtles and many other creatures were spotted while enjoying a fantastic landscape with black lava cliffs, clear turquoise waters, blue skies and green vegetation.
Later in the morning we explored the underwater Galápagos world with our first snorkeling adventure. Deep water snorkelers went to Gardner islet where hundreds of reef fish were found, as well as curious sea lions and a couple of white-tip reef sharks. The conditions were perfect, crystalline water, great visibility and a very pleasant water temperature! Those less experienced snorkelers and those who venture on the activity for the first time, tested their gear and skills right off the white beach of Gardner Bay, where hundreds of sea lions where basking on the white coral sand allowing us to enjoy some time with them, while the always curious Hood mockingbirds came close to us to inspect everything we carried!
At noon, and after seeing the fearless behavior of the Galápagos fauna, we enjoyed a fantastic Ecuadorian buffet lunch, and were ready for some photography tips given by our Lindblad-National Geographic certified photo instructor, Fernando.
Soon the afternoon outing find us at Punta Suarez, one of the richest wildlife locations in Galápagos, where marines iguanas showing green-red colors were basking on the rocky shorelines like sculpted dragons, among dozens of young sea lions playing like kindergarten kids. Further along the trail we found Blue-footed and Nazca boobies, some displaying courtships, others incubating eggs or taking care of the very young offspring’s, among denizens of lava lizards, mockingbirds and Darwin's finches that are unique here.
The air was hot, the humidity high, and the rocky trail hard, but every step allowed us to learn more about the island’s unique geology, wildlife and flora that, characteristic of isolated archipelagos.
This is the world that Charles Darwin visited in 1835, and which shaped evolutionary science forever by inspiring his then-novel concept of natural selection and survival of the fittest.
