Day 163, Year 1: Day Four on the Sulidae–Espanola
Date: Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Hot
Windbird’s Location: Academy Bay, Puerto Ayoro, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos
Sulidae’s Location: Gardner Bay, Espanola and Punta Suarez, Espanola
Espanola is the southernmost Galapagos island. The English name for this island is Hood and as you will see, many of the species here are found only on this island which makes them endemic and they have the English name of Hood as part of their name. We arrived in Gardner Bay early in the morning, anchored, had breakfast, and headed to shore. Lenny, our guide, had told us the night before that we would spend the morning on the beach exploring and swimming. What he couldn’t prepare us for was the variety of wildlife we would encounter during the day on this island that is one of the oldest in the archipelago. At first glance, it just looks like a low-lying island with very little vegetation. On closer inspection, it is a world of what seems like magical creatures.
First Stop: Gardner Bay, Espanola
Highlights:
” white beach for as far as you can see
” swimming in the beautiful turquoise water
” fresh turtle tracks and turtle “nests” just covered
” playful sea lions romping on the beach
” territorial sea lion males keeping young pups in tow
” hermit crabs on the beach
” ancient looking chitons
” green algae on black volcanic rock with red marine iguanas-stunning
” a Galapagos hawk
” the Hood Mockingbird
” snorkeling around Gardner rock
Imagine a white sand beach that stretches as far as you can see and turquoise blue water inviting you to come for a swim. And then you step ashore to be greeted by the barking of sea lions-mommas, papas, and pups are everywhere lazing about on the white sand. As you walk down the beach you see the tank-like tracks of a turtle who has returned to the sea. You follow the tracks and find a freshly covered turtle nest. You keep walking along the water’s edge, dodging sea lions that are sunning themselves here and there and you come to a place where black lava rock is exposed on the water’s edge. There is a green algae that looks a little like sea lettuce growing on the black rocks, bright red Sally Lightfoot crabs crawling hither and yon, and marine iguanas decorated with red swimming in the water and crawling on the volcanic rocks. It is a stunning sight. Welcome to Espanola. We experienced all of this on our walk down the beach and then turned to walk back to where we had started. We saw a Galapagos hawk perched on top of the tallest rock, we played with hermit crabs, and we even found ancient looking chitons. The Hood Mockingbird, endemic, of course, plays along the water’s edge and talks to us as we walk along. A territorial male sea lion chases pups that have gotten away and are frolicking in the water. The big guy wants them back up on the beach. He chases one and gets it up on the sand while the other one escapes. He then goes to get the second one and the first decides to go back in the water. Papa is barking and barking, but the young pups are hard to harness. It is a full-time job, but then all parents know that. We decide it is time for us to take a dip in the beautiful turquoise water. We’re a little afraid that the territorial male will try to chase us out of the water, but he is way too busy with those pups to worry about us. We see the Sulidae panga heading to shore to pick us up, so we get out of the water and back to the Sulidae. The boat moves to a new anchorage just offshore right next to Gardner Rock. Here we get into the panga and start a circumnavigation of the rock. We get part way around and then Lenny tells us to jump in and that he will meet us on the other side. There are a few sea lions in the water, but the most amazing thing here is the sea life hiding on the face of the rock just below the water level. We see many of the fish that we have already experienced. There are little indents in the rock that look like the openings of caves. We explore these and sometimes almost bump into sea lions who are coming out as we are going in. We work our way back to the other side of the huge rock and come to a shallow area. We find a huge flounder on the bottom as well as more playful sea lions. It was a great last snorkel for our Galapagos tour.
Second Stop: Punta Suarez, Espanola
Highlights:
” marine iquanas covering their eggs
” lots of iguana nests
” mating ritual of the Blue-footed Boobies
” Blue-footed Boobies nesting
” Nazca Boobies (called masked boobies)
” Swallow-tailed Gulls nesting
” the “blow hole”
” sea lions surfing the waves and porpoising their way to shore
” male albatross practicing their mating ritual
” Hood Racer-endemic Galapagos snake
After lunch, the Sulidae moved to the other side of this island and we went ashore. We were greeted by more sea lions and then started on the path across the island. Marine iguanas are underfoot. They are everywhere and Lenny points out that we are walking through an area where they are nesting. We watched as they scratched in the dirt to cover their nests. We were now starting to walk along a cliff rising high out of the ocean. Many birds nest on the face of the cliff and it was here that we saw the beautiful tropic birds flying in from the ocean and soaring past us. These birds are bright white with a red beak and a long, flowing white tail. Spectacular. But it gets better. We see Swallow-tailed gulls sitting on their egg or eggs in some cases, we see Nazca Boobies with their funny little masks of black sitting everywhere, some mature, some very young and fuzzy, and then we come to Blue-footed Booby land. Some of the boobies are engaged in their mating dance, lifting their funny little blue feet sort of like they are marching in place and then lifting their wings. The females look demurely down at the ground and then their beaks touch. Other Blue-footed Boobies have obviously completed the mating process are sitting or standing over their egg. Some had two eggs, but most had only one. The female sits on the egg and then stands up to cool off. That’s when we got to see the eggs. There was one more thing I wanted to see and that was mating Waved Albatross. We pass the blowhole that is shooting water up like a fountain and then head across the low cliff area that is the perfect nesting spot for the Waved Albatross. These large birds have a hard time getting air borne, especially the young birds, and this cliff on Espanola is the perfect landing and take-off spot. So this is where they mate. Lenny doesn’t think they have arrived yet, too early in the season, but I almost squeal as we spot the first male. He is just sitting, but we travel on and find two males that are practicing their famous mating dance. The females have not arrived yet, but I was thrilled to get to see the males. As we head back to the starting point, we see one more endemic species, the Hood Racer. It was quite a day.
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| 060329 Day 163a Galapagos Tour Day 4–Espanola 1, Gardner Bay |
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| 060329 Day 163b Galapagos Tour Day 4–Espanola 2, Punta Suarez |
