Today was our last full day in the Galápagos and the National Geographic Islander spent the whole day anchored at Darwin Bay, Genovesa Island.
Without a doubt, Genovesa is one of the jewels in the Galapagos crown. It has some of the largest populations of seabirds in the archipelago. Isolated from the rest of the islands, it provides good nesting habitats for several species of seabirds.
After breakfast we went for a walk to explore the shoreline of Darwin Bay, an ecosystem with a variety of habitats for the different native and endemic species that inhabit this island. Our guests showed a lot of interest to the large numbers of nesting red-footed boobies. We had not seen any all week. The walk was followed by a wonderful deepwater snorkeling session along the inner wall of Genovesa’s caldera. The variety of fish found at the snorkeling place was amazing – we even spotted a Galapagos shark that was much bigger than any of us.
In the afternoon we went for a hike on a lava field full of life. We were delighted to find many seabirds nesting close to the trail. But our mission was to search for short-eared owls, which have become diurnal on Genovesa due to the lack of competition and abundance of food. Our search was very successful! We were able to find as many as six. One seemed to just have finished lunch because there were many storm petrel feathers at its feet.
Our hike came to an end at sunset. Today provided some of the best opportunities for photographing the wildlife that makes the Galapagos so special.
