Today we had our first full day in the Galapagos Islands. We started this journey on the island of Española, or Hood. We woke up and the National Geographic Endeavour had dropped anchor at Gardner Bay.
On this site we have a beautiful white coralline beach, sea lions love it! Maybe as much as we did! The turquoise waters of the area invited us to start with the water activities.
Snorkeling at Gardner Islet was an adventure! We jumped in the deep water to discover the amazing underwater world of the Galapagos. We encountered hundreds of razor surgeon fish and king angel fish. Some of our guests were lucky enough to find an octopus! Octopuses are masters of camouflage, as they can change their color while they move along the ocean bottom. The highlight was a playful sea lion that had enough energy to come play with all of us! That was just the morning!
In the afternoon we visited a wonderful site: Punta Suarez. This is a nesting colony for several species of birds: Nazca boobies, blue footed boobies, red billed tropicbirds, and the outstanding waved albatrosses. We also found several species of reptiles. The marine iguanas on Española have a peculiar coloration. The lava lizard is an endemic species found only in Española. One of the surprises was to find an elusive Española racer.
After hiking in this peculiar place we understood the dynamics of the Galapagos Islands. The islands are all different. Some islands are older than the others, some more humid than the others. As isolated as they are, they have followed different speciation procedures which have lead the species to change, becoming not just unique to the Galapagos but also unique to each island.
Today we witnessed evolution on this unique natural laboratory.
