This is our first full day in the Galapagos Islands! It is magical and beyond expectation. We started our day at Gardner Bay exploring the white sandy beach with sea lions and snorkeling with tropical fish. This island is the oldest and one of the jewels of the Galapagos in every sense.
In the morning we were anchored off Gardner Bay on the north side of Española. Here, we had the opportunity to do activities such as snorkeling, and exploration of the Gardner Bay. The marine life here is just astonishing! Here, we spotted large schools of fish, sea turtles, marine iguanas, sea lions, and many types of sea birds.
In the afternoon we continued to explore the island, but we navigated this time to another location. At Punta Suarez, we had the opportunity to walk among hundreds of marine iguanas and sea birds. There were also sea lions all around playing in the surf and others resting on the beach.
The number of sea birds was astounding! Everywhere you walked there were Nazca boobies and close to them were swallow-tailed gulls mixed with marine iguanas. All these creatures are dotting the lava rocks of the island and the beaches and cliffs.
Española is home to the largest bird of the region: the waved albatross. Their population is large and there are several thousand nesting every year across the island. Today, we saw a number of baby albatrosses born this season! It made us happy to see with our own eyes that this iconic bird is doing well and the population is healthy.
