Today we traveled to the southeastern most side of the archipelago to explore the oldest island in the Galápagos: Española. We started our day with pre-breakfast kayaking along the coast of Gardner Bay, where we saw blue-footed boobies, brown pelicans, sea turtles, and sea lions. After kayaking we returned aboard to have breakfast and later geared up to go snorkeling in deep water and from the shore.
On Gardner Bay we found several Galápagos sea lions resting on the shore and there were a few newborn sea lions with their moms. We also had a juvenile sea lion that was very curious and decided to take over our bags and play with them for more than an hour.
As we ended our morning in Gardner Bay we then headed toward Punta Suarez, which is one of the most spectacular places in the archipelago because of its unique wildlife. Along the rocky trail of Punta Suarez we encountered Nazca boobies, blue-footed boobies, the very colorful Galápagos marine iguanas, swallow-tailed gulls, and the Galápagos waved albatross that only nests on Española Island. In the interior of this island we also found the Española lava lizard with its large body size and colorful skin as well as its predator: the Galápagos hawk.
We ended our day with a colorful sunset as we returned aboard for our first recap session. It was a great day with amazing experiences.
