Hood Island
After a nice smooth navigation, this morning we arrived to the oldest island in Galápagos. We had nice weather; a warm and sunny day, it was just perfect for visiting Gardner bay. We went kayaking, snorkelling, and swimming. Our companions were several Galápagos sea lions, they were very playful, and even large males gave us a great show. One of the patrolling males decided to inspect his harem a little closer; what he found there made him react, amongst the females there were also some young males. As the territorial male approached, we saw at least half of the group of sea lions stand and move away the fastest they could. He chased them for several minutes, and even though we thought those males were far enough, the territorial male followed them for at least a hundred yards. We were watching near by, and he ignored us all the time, finally and after pursuing them far enough from his harem, he returned again for a second round. Only when he didn’t see any other male around his females, he took a siesta, all females in the harem looked as if they didn’t care at all.
For our afternoon outing we explored the westernmost side of Hood Island; we walked along the coast looking for Nazca boobies, blue-footed boobies, the most colourful marine iguanas, the endemic Hood mockingbird, and the Galápagos waved albatross, all of these nesting along the coast and cliffs. As we returned to the ship, the sun turned red as it disappeared under the horizon.
After a nice smooth navigation, this morning we arrived to the oldest island in Galápagos. We had nice weather; a warm and sunny day, it was just perfect for visiting Gardner bay. We went kayaking, snorkelling, and swimming. Our companions were several Galápagos sea lions, they were very playful, and even large males gave us a great show. One of the patrolling males decided to inspect his harem a little closer; what he found there made him react, amongst the females there were also some young males. As the territorial male approached, we saw at least half of the group of sea lions stand and move away the fastest they could. He chased them for several minutes, and even though we thought those males were far enough, the territorial male followed them for at least a hundred yards. We were watching near by, and he ignored us all the time, finally and after pursuing them far enough from his harem, he returned again for a second round. Only when he didn’t see any other male around his females, he took a siesta, all females in the harem looked as if they didn’t care at all.
For our afternoon outing we explored the westernmost side of Hood Island; we walked along the coast looking for Nazca boobies, blue-footed boobies, the most colourful marine iguanas, the endemic Hood mockingbird, and the Galápagos waved albatross, all of these nesting along the coast and cliffs. As we returned to the ship, the sun turned red as it disappeared under the horizon.
