Day 13: Today we awoke and arrived at Española island. As usual we woke up and had breakfast and then got ready to head to the islands around 7:45 am. We arrived and there were many crabs along the coast that scattered, as you got close. There were sea lions and the usual crew of animals we have seen the past few days.
We then approached the Albatross where we found a couple sitting under a tree. The Albatross is the largest bird in the Galapagos Islands and nest only on Española Island from March to early January. The Albatross picks a mate and stays with them for life. We watched them as they sat there and clack beaks with each other as we stood only a few feet away from them. Their ritual begins with the male’s annual dance to reattract his mate. The performance can take up to 5 days consisting of a series of strutting, honking, and beak fencing. Once the pair is reacquainted they produce a single egg and share the responsibility of incubation. The colony remains based on Española until December when the chick is fully grown. By January most of the colony leaves the island to fish along the Humboldt Current. Young albatross do not return to Española until their 4th or 5th year when they return to seek a mate.
We then came across a baby Albatross that looks completely different than the older Albatross. It looks like a fuzzy Fraggle Rock. We were the first ones on the island so we scared off the Albatross on the take-off area. So they started to walk to the cliff of Punta Suárez where they would jump off the cliff to take off in flight.
We walked to Punta Suárez where we watched the 3 Albatross walk up and then jump off of the cliff into flight, just feet away from where we were standing. The Albatross bird needs food availability in the ocean, accessible terrain for nesting and walking, and cliffs nearby for taking off. They cannot take off any other way, they must jump off a cliff for flight.
It was definitely a highlight getting up close to these birds and watching them so closely. We continued on the path where we came to another cliff that we sat on and watched for a while. This part of the island takes a huge blow from the ocean as we watched the ocean crash along the rocky shore. It is the oldest and southernmost island in the chain. It’s remote location makes it a unique island with a large number of endemic creatures. Secluded from the other islands wildlife on Española adapted to the island’s environment and natural resources. Over the years the island has moved further away from the hot spot on which the island was created from a shield volcano on the center of the island. As it moved further away the volcano became extinct and erosion began to occur.
We continued on our walk to see a massive amount of marine iguanas resting on the rocky shore. Normally marine iguanas are black in color, a camouflage making it difficult for predators to differentiate between the iguanas and black lava rocks in which they live. On Española adult marine iguanas are brightly colored with a reddish tint except during mating season when their color changes to more of a greenish shade.
We moved on to find an area of blue-footed booties who were in mating season. We watched as they played and did dances for each other trying to lure the other bird into him (or her). It was quite the spectacle… we were literally a foot away watching this!
We then headed back to the boat where we made an hour-long journey to Gardner Bay. This location is on the northeastern portion of the island and has an awesome long white sandy beach where there are colonies of sea lions, sea turtles, and inquisitive mockingbirds.
Once we arrived we were given a few hours to lounge about the boat and get ready to head to shore. The boat would drop us off at the beach and then we could snorkel and lay about for a few hours before the boat would pick us back up for dinner.
I laid out in the sun to while others went snorkeling around the boat. I was really tired, but forgot to put sunscreen on so my knees got a little burnt. It was time to head ashore shortly after and we arrived on the long white sandy beach. Stina, Dominic, Tetra, and I laid out on the beach before I finally decided to head out to the rock in the distance for good snorkeling. I was scared. I didn’t really want to go, but I forced myself to.
Stina let me take her underwater camera to take photos while I was snorkeling. I stood in the water for over 30 minutes before getting the courage to go out. The waves were a little rough and I don’t like to be out in the ocean swimming alone, but I made it to the Tortuga Rock and swam completely around it. I had sea lions swimming all around me and playing with me. The sea lions are very friendly. They swim around you, aim for your face, and at the last second dodge it to circle around you. They are fun to play with because they mimic your movements. I was a little too timid to really interact with them at the time. I had fish to look at, but nothing too exciting. The waves on the other side of the rock were really harsh and I had a hard time swimming around but I finally made it.
I started my swim back to the beach and when I arrived I realized I didn’t put sun screen on the back of my legs and they were burnt. Damnit. I borrowed Dominic’s sunscreen which is much more powerful than my measly SPF 15 (He had 50). We laid out on the beach and the mockingbirds would come up and jump on our feet and hands and look for food. I still can’t get over how close we can get to these animals!
The shore boat finally came to pick us up and I ran to the shower before dinner would be served in a few minutes so that I could clean up. I came out and we were having pizza and I was served Hawaiian. It was made with that nasty Ecuador cheese and not mozzarella so it wasn’t very good. I managed to eat a bit before starting to feel queasy and quit. I could already feel it coming and asked for some seasickness meds from my table mates.
Shortly after I found myself in the toilet hurling up my dinner and we hadn’t even left yet. I then headed on deck where I hung out until the ship was at our destination and went down below to get a proper place to sleep.
