Located in the southeastern corner of the Galápagos Archipelago, Española is one of the oldest islands. A former shield volcano, it has now been eroded to a flattened island with tall cliffs on its southern side. It is in the path of the South Equatorial Current and its highly productive, cold waters, therefore the sea life thrives here. Española is the home to various marine seabird colonies, like the elegant Nazca boobies, the klepto-parasitic great and magnificent frigate birds, the nocturnal swallow-tailed gull and the unique waved albatross. Although still very early into their breeding season, we were very fortunate to witness the return of the first albatrosses today, which have spent approximately three months in the open seas of the Southern Pacific ocean.