We navigated to the northernmost visitor site on our itinerary, a long but worthwhile navigation. We dropped anchor within an old volcano featuring a huge caldera full of thousands of birds and a large variety of marine life. This is Tower Island, also known as Genovesa, the sea bird island of the Galapagos.
In the morning, we had a wet landing on a white coralline beach. Soon we got ready to explore the nesting sites of a large variety of sea birds. Hundreds of birds soared in the sky. Others fed their chicks on land, such as the case of a pair of swallow-tailed gulls. We found a couple of gulls regurgitating squid to their chick, quite a show to photograph.
Red-footed boobies nested on red mangrove trees. Some had chicks already, while others incubated their single egg for the season. As usual frigatebirds engaged in klepto-parasitism, or stealing fish from boobies returning from hunting. Our walk was relaxing and full of unforgettable sights.
We soon got ready to snorkel. Many of us saw Pacific green sea turtles, guinea fowl puffer fish, fur seals and more. The temperature of the water was just perfect.
After lunch, we had a dry landing and visited Prince Phillip’s Steps. The wildlife was quite similar, but the landscape was completely different. One of the highlights of this place is the short-eared owl. They are hard to spot but it is not impossible. We spotted about three owls on the rusty lava fields. On the way back we found one of them right on the trail, allowing us to photograph it with the golden light of the sunset.
It was an amazing week with many memories to take back home.
