Our last full day in the Galapagos will be spent on the spectacular northern island of Genovesa, also known by the English name of Tower, one of the most pristine islands in the archipelago. This will represent an overwhelming seabird experience. From frigate birds, red-footed boobies, Nazca boobies and swallow-tailed gulls to storm petrels and tropicbirds, this low, brushy island serves as a beacon to winged ocean wanderers. Early in the morning we will be entering via a narrow, shallow underwater channel into the bay, a huge submerged caldera of this ancient dormant volcano, with bird calls everywhere. For this entrance, the National Geographic Islander must line up navigation markers on land, a tricky maneuver and quite interesting to follow.
After a wet landing at Darwin Bay we headed out for a hike on a sandy path and, fabulous wildlife at every step- sea lions barking and others resting on the beach, red footed boobies nesting, flying, incubating, and more ceremonies.
On the sand nests the only nocturnal sea gull on earth, the swallow tailed gull. Many chicks were being fed and carefully attended by their parents. Their large eyes with infrared are just beautiful and we were so happy to see so many of them.
After the hike we returned on board just to get changed for the next outing, snorkeling. The water there was so rich in underwater life it was a privilege to observe. Playing sea lions, timid fur seals, turtles, many different types of fish, and big schools of fish came around to show us their majesty and elegance.
Our afternoon destination was reached by Zodiac where we followed the steep walls of Darwin Bay to the far side where tropicbirds and other nesting seabirds, as well as Galapagos fur seals, may be seen. The landing site known as Prince Philip's Steps was named after the Duke of Edinburgh who visited in the 1960s.
The trail led those adventurous among us for a steep climb up a narrow fissure to the cliff top (about 90ft elevation) for a lovely hike along fairly level terrain, although the surface of old, cracked lava is not flat!. We followed the trail through a Palo Santo forest to a storm petrel colony, passing boobies and frigates along the way. We got to see the amazing short eared owl waiting to catch a storm petrel that are here by the thousands. We also saw many sea birds and even some fur seals basking on the rocks after the hunt of the day. All this accompanied by a spectacular sunset ended another beautiful day in the Galapagos.
