Day 3: Pta Suarez and Gardner Bay, Espanola Island

Jan 26, 2014 15:15

Day 3:

Overnight, our boat left San Cristobal Island and headed to one of the most southern-most of the Galapagos Islands, Espanola Island. The plan was to spend the morning at Punta Suarez on the west side of the island and the afternoon at Gardner Bay on the east side of the island.

After breakfast, we disembarked for a dry landing - the national park had built a concrete stair amongst the rocks in a small, protected cove off of the main beach. Since the landing area was nestled amongst rocks, this meant, of course, that all sorts of wildlife were very close to the landing area. Several sea lions were in fact napping on the landing area. The panga drivers shooed them away, but one of the young ones was very curious and sniffed Dad's pant leg as he walked away from the boat - a hilarious moment that unfortunately, no one caught on camera.

Visible on the rocks near the landing area at Punta Suarez were a large number of marine iguanas and several brightly colored crabs, as well as the sea lions. We walked down the remainder of the concrete path to a beach area and the trailhead. Here, we saw what I can only describe as a "marine iguana parking lot" - many, many iguanas nestled together in rows in the sand, enjoying the sun. It should be noted that when we returned from our hike, the parking lot had cleared out completely, with only one or two left in the area.

Also visible here at the beach area were several sea lions on the move - as they shuffled to the water, we got great views of how strong their fins are, as they do not drag their bellies along the ground as they move. We also saw some quite young sea lions - possibly even born that morning.

The overall hike was flat, though quite rocky. Espanola Island is home to the mating grounds for several species of birds - on our hike, we saw primarily the Nazca booby and the Waved Albatross, with a few Galapagos doves thrown in for good measure. The albatross viewing was particularly interesting - they next between April and December, and we were there to see the juvenile birds losing their pin feathers and getting ready to leave the nest. Had we been a few weeks later, we would have missed seeing them altogether.

After reboarding the boat, we headed to our afternoon at Gardner Bay on the eastern side of the island. Here, we enjoyed a beautiful white sandy beach, complete with several pods of sea lion families and baby sea lions playing in the surf. Nothing more to report here, other than a very relaxing afternoon on a white sand beach, enjoying nature!

Photos for the trip can be found HERE.

Previous Posts:
1 - Galapagos: Introduction
2 - Day 1: Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
3 - Day 2: Punta Pitt and Cerro Brujo

galapagos, adventures

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