On the last day of the expedition, we explored Genovesa Island. In the morning we visited the beach at Darwin Bay and found beauty everywhere. The island is mostly known for the number of sea birds. Frigatebirds soared in the skies without flapping their wings -- so effortless, so elegant. Reaching a large colony of red-footed boobies, we saw specimens at every stage of life: eggs, chicks, juveniles, and the very colorful adults. The red mangroves in the area were covered with these birds. We also saw three sea lion pups playing as if they were indeed puppies. We could have spent hours just enjoying the cuteness of that scene.
After our joyful walk we were ready to go to the water. Our last snorkeling of the trip was completely worth it. We swam with hammerhead sharks, mobula rays, golden rays, eagle rays and so many different schools of fish. We were so satisfied.
In the afternoon, we landed on Prince Philip’s Steps to explore the exterior part of the collapsed caldera. Hundreds of birds greeted us, including frigatebirds, red-footed and Nazca boobies, wedge-rumped storm petrels, and Galapagos shearwaters. We enjoyed that view so much, but our main goal was to find the endemic sub-species of owl of this area; the short-eared owl. On this island, these animals hunt during the day because of the lack of competition. We were lucky to see three of them. One of them flew right in front of my group. After this delightful hike, we enjoyed a lovely navigation towards the sunset. What a way to end to this wonderful expedition.
