Española (Hood) Island
What a great day we just had on Española Island. We dropped anchor in Gardner Bay, a beautiful place in the northeastern side of the island of Española. The most experienced snorkelers started their day exploring the underwater world around a rock with a rather singular shape. It reminded us a saddleback race tortoise, which race curiously could be found on this very island. In very old Spanish “Galápagos” means “saddle” and the islands were called Galápagos because of the tortoises “saddle” shape carapace.
The island of Española has a unique species of giant tortoises that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Other examples of unique endemism in this island are the waved albatross, the hood mockingbirds, a small constrictor snake species, a lava lizard and the most colorful marine iguana in the Galápagos.
During our snorkeling experience we found thousands of black stripped salemas, sergeant mayors, parrot fishes, etc. We even found three white tipped reef sharks resting motionless on the white sandy bottom. It was fabulous to observe so close the sharks without any sign of aggressiveness towards any of us.
Later after the snorkeling, we landed on the beautiful beach of Gardner Bay. The sea lion’s colony was basking along the shoreline and it was a pleasure to join them for this relaxing experience.
In the afternoon we visited Punta Suarez, in the western side of Española Island. We walked among a large colony of Nazca (formerly called masked booby) and blue-footed boobies as well. The highlight of the walk was definitely the waved albatrosses and their courtship displays.
We left behind this bird’s paradise being glad to know that, these fearless species would be preserved as a symbol of untouched wildlife.
What a great day we just had on Española Island. We dropped anchor in Gardner Bay, a beautiful place in the northeastern side of the island of Española. The most experienced snorkelers started their day exploring the underwater world around a rock with a rather singular shape. It reminded us a saddleback race tortoise, which race curiously could be found on this very island. In very old Spanish “Galápagos” means “saddle” and the islands were called Galápagos because of the tortoises “saddle” shape carapace.
The island of Española has a unique species of giant tortoises that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Other examples of unique endemism in this island are the waved albatross, the hood mockingbirds, a small constrictor snake species, a lava lizard and the most colorful marine iguana in the Galápagos.
During our snorkeling experience we found thousands of black stripped salemas, sergeant mayors, parrot fishes, etc. We even found three white tipped reef sharks resting motionless on the white sandy bottom. It was fabulous to observe so close the sharks without any sign of aggressiveness towards any of us.
Later after the snorkeling, we landed on the beautiful beach of Gardner Bay. The sea lion’s colony was basking along the shoreline and it was a pleasure to join them for this relaxing experience.
In the afternoon we visited Punta Suarez, in the western side of Española Island. We walked among a large colony of Nazca (formerly called masked booby) and blue-footed boobies as well. The highlight of the walk was definitely the waved albatrosses and their courtship displays.
We left behind this bird’s paradise being glad to know that, these fearless species would be preserved as a symbol of untouched wildlife.
