Española Island
This island, located in the southeastern part of the Galápagos Islands is surrounded by a vast rich sea. It is certainly the oldest island in the archipelago as well. Española is home to many of the animal and plant species found in the Galápagos Islands, both on land, its shorelines and the sea. Many of these species are endemic not only to the Galápagos but to this island in particular.
This morning we anchored off the gorgeous Gardner beach bathed by turquoise waters. Here we have a huge colony of Galápagos sea lions that were everyone’s delight. The Española mockingbird appeared as ever busy and searching for food and water in the sand. Some of our guests were more adventurous and took the option of snorkeling along Gardner Islet. Here we found large schools of fish such as Razor surgeonfish and Parrot fish, plus sting rays which were seen feeding off the plankton near the surface of the water and others resting on the sea floor.
After lunch it was time for another disembarkation to explore the westernmost point of Española Island; this place is called Punta Suarez. Not far from our landing spot, we were astonished by the number of Española marine iguanas, Galápagos sea lions, Española mockingbirds and Española lava lizards that were seen all around us. It was high tide, so the small beaches where the Galápagos sea lions and colorful marine iguanas sunbathe were a little smaller, and so the activity was even better because the sea lion pups were surfing!
Female sea lions resting, pups trying to pull the marine iguanas’ tails, young sea lions wrestling and a pair of Galápagos hawks were spotted in the distance. But this was not all! Our visit just started when we walked through big numbers of Nazca boobies all along the cliffs of Española. They were very protectively looking after their nests and chicks. These large white boobies share their habitat with a colony of Swallow-tailed gulls. We also found a few Blue-footed boobies along the path, and that was a very enjoyable surprise as their chicks seem to be doing well and nearly ready to leave the island.
