Genovesa Island
I've been four weeks onboard the National Geographic Islander and it has been a fabulous experience! Every day was terrific, sharing my homeland with all our adventurous travelers. They come excited to see the unique wildlife found nowhere else, to see this unique place on earth, and I feel privileged to live here.
Today is the great finale! Genovesa is one of those places that you do not want to leave. The frigatebirds have started to breed; this morning we found many males with their bright red pouches blown up, waiting for the first female coming down to the nest they had built with much effort. Far inland some yellow-crowned herons hide in caves to avoid the heat from a very sunny morning. Red-footed boobies are in the thousands here, swallow-tailed gulls decorate the sandy beach where we disembarked to have our walk, and up in the sky, everywhere you look, is a creature gliding, soaring the air, enjoying and doing something that humans envy – this is why Genovesa is known as the island of the birds.
Back on board we prepared our snorkeling gear to go for a deep-water snorkel along the cliffs of Darwin Bay. Hammerhead sharks are now common for us to see here; two weeks ago we saw them, and this time there were four of them, along with golden rays and tropical fish that were filmed by our underwater camera.
Our expedition continued in the afternoon when some fearless kayakers went to explore the impressive cliff of Darwin Bay which is full of seabirds. The red-billed tropicbird is one of the most beautiful that travelers love to see; fur sea lions basking on the rocks; storm petrels soaring so fast; and marine iguanas swimming in the water are part of the great spectacle they experienced.
A few minutes later we disembarked on Prince Philip’s Steps, another visitor site at the east side of the bay; with all the seabirds mating, the place is astonishing. Flocks of Nazca boobies nesting, little chicks hatching, red-footed boobies building their nests – and we just enjoyed being simple visitors of this unique world. When I see something amazing I tell my travelers, enjoy it!, enjoy it! This is an amazing moment, unrepeatable.
