We woke up early this morning, went up to the sundeck and saw the entrance of this beautiful and impressive Caldera of Genovesa Island. We are in the midst of the breeding season of the great frigatebirds. It is very impressive how beautiful their display is. Males get the attention of the females by completely inflating their red gular pouches and making a special chicken-like sound; the courtship takes place only during the rainy season. This was a spectacular show during the morning by Prince Philips Steps and during the afternoon’s visit at Darwin’s Bay. We were also impressed to see numerous red-footed boobies perched on the branches with their tiny red webbed feet and building their nests on the incense trees. They are certainly the most colorful of the three boobies’ species.
5/29/2025
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National Geographic Gemini
Genovesa Island
Genovesa is considered one of the Galapagos crown jewels, and today it was showing off all of its splendor. Immediately after breakfast we put on our sturdy shoes and set out to explore Prince Philip’s Steps. This area is known for opportunities to observe not only large colonies of nesting Nazca and red-footed boobies, but maybe, just maybe, the short-eared owl which exhibits diurnal behavior on this island. After this walk we got ready for a dip in the Pacific Ocean and snorkeling along the inner coast of this caldera. The afternoon was equally amazing as we disembarked to explore Darwin Bay, along a short and easy trail that was packed with wildlife. Here we observed not only nesting frigatebirds, red-footed boobies, and Nazca boobies, but also a few yellow-crowned night herons. It was another incredible afternoon in the Galapagos Islands.