Our vessel, the National Geographic Islander anchored today in the shallow waters of Espanola Island, the oldest island in the archipelago. We first visited Gardner Bay and its neighbor island, Gardner. Our fearless explorers were ready to go kayaking along the coast of this beautiful bay. Soon they found themselves paddling among turtles and the sea lions close by.
After a good breakfast we had a talk by our expedition leader about snorkeling safety and got ready for going deep in the water. Our snorkeling was our first opportunity to meet with sea lions in their own environment and they obliged, always playful and swimming among beautiful tropical fish, turtles and sting rays. At the beach, our explorers were fascinated by the number of sea lions, peacefully resting all along the beach, and many of us could not believe we could swim with these creatures so close. We came back to the ship to have lunch and to navigate to the most westerly point of the island, Punta Suarez.
After a special lunch of delicious Ecuadorian dishes, our galley crew was introduced and the most applauded person was our dishwasher. The desserts were so good that most people had seconds.
At two, our next activity followed: a talk that introduced photography as a way to change the world, and to help others to care about the environment. It was an introduction of wildlife photography by the resident photo instructor. At three in the afternoon we were organized by groups and disembarked at the pier of the visitor site in Punta Suarez. It was occupied by adult sea lions, but of course that was something we could easily manage by kindly asking them to sit on one side of the trail, which was done by the use of a poncho.
As we went along the path we started to find a great number of different animals, very near us, going about their daily lives. We Nazca boobies dancing and singing, large cactus finches, Galapagos doves, and the highlight of the day: the waved albatrosses. The albatrosses were nesting and taking care of their babies. We also got to see Galapagos hawks in their nest. Finally, as the sun set, all explorers enjoyed another special day in paradise.
