A spectacular day in the Galapagos on the season’s first family program, exploring. A walk past blue-footed booby nests, watching comical courtship displays and seeing a few of them incubating their eggs. At the blowhole, there was time to sit and watch the waves spout 90 feet into the air. Linda, our Family Program Coordinator, had some of us making "sound maps" of the many things we could hear. Then it was on to see the nesting colony of waved albatrosses. What a day...After landing on Española (Hood) Island, one of the first things we encountered was the Hood mockingbird, found here and nowhere else. They are bold, cheeky, and totally unafraid of people! This afternoon, a landing on Genovesa (Tower) Island. It’s near the end of the breeding season for the great frigatebirds, but there are still quite a few males with their red pouches inflated. It’s a tough life -- theysit there looking as gorgeous as possible, in the hope that a passing female willfind them hopelessly attractive. It works for them -- there’s no shortage of frigatebirds at all, with hundreds soaring overhead and still more incubating eggs and chicks. An incredible spectacle.
Conservation was the definite topic of the day as the Polaris anchored in front of Santa Cruz, the second largest island in Galapagos. Although not the capital of the province, it is the touristic and conservation nerve center of the archipelago. The highlight of the day was to visit the Charles Darwin Research Station, with its growth in captivity programs. The one usually opened to the public is the giant tortoise program, aimed at rescuing this unique creature, but one of the other endangered species is the land iguana, also raised in captivity here. Both animals are then repatriated to their islands. This program is usually closed to the public due to the shy nature of the iguana, but because of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Galapagos being declared a National Park, we all had the very special treat of being able to visit this special site.
We awoke once more in the center of the archipelago, and as we stumbled out on deck after our early-morning wake up call, we were confronted by a spectacular but stark scenery. A volcanic moonscape of rust colored parasitic cones surrounded by a more recent black lava flow, a dry area caught in the rain shadow of larger islands. We anchored opposite the small cone-islet of Bartolome, where an early morning climb up 372 wooden steps certainly got our blood pumping! We then however had a lovely restful time on the beach, where we saw such highlights as sharks, octopus and many species of colorful reef fish. The most remarkable experience of all though must have been snorkeling with the incredibly adorable Galapagos penguins. A small colony can be found in this area, and they were particularly busy today, rounding up schools of tiny salemas, then going in for the catch, which many of us were able to witness. Where else would you be brave enough to get in the water with penguins?!!!
These islands are a fabulous place for kids of all ages -- from 6 to 96! This week has been a very special one for all the families on board the Polaris during our Family Voyage. They are enjoying what we believe may be a life-changing experience for everyone. The family oriented activites incorporated in this voyage are making it an enjoyable wayfor families to vacation together and learn about the enchanting beauty and unique ecosystem of the Galapagos Archipelago.
Today was a "tuff" day, not tough, but tuff. We enjoyed Bartolome Island very early in the morning. It's basically a tuff (compacted ash) formation. And in the afternoon we visited Puerto Egas with its impressive "sugar loaf," another example of ash formed by an explosive eruption, when lava is cooling off with sea water. Darwin saw the same cone in 1835, as he spent most of his time on James island -- 9 days of his 19 days on land. Geology is fascinating, but today we had it all: Galapagos fur seals, recently born baby California sea lions, juvenile oyster catchers and at the very end of our walk... WHALES! For the first time on the Polaris we saw Bryde's whales from the visitor site. There was a feeding frenzy of brown noddy terns, boobies, pelicans, and then suddenly, blowholes of at least 3 whales probably fishing as well in the same area. We don't know if Darwin was so lucky when he was here many years ago, but we certainly were lucky today!
Fernandina was today at its most spectacular, so much so that all the naturalists were moved to see the island restored to its former glory after the tough times endured during El Niño. The snorkeling before the walk was rewarding, and some of the highlights included mating Port Jackson sharks, many green sea turtles as well as marine iguanas feeding on the algae beds below the surface. A small Zodiac ride took us along the coastline to find Galapagos penguins, dazzling in their new plumage after having undergone their "catastrophic moult," and large colonies of flightless cormorants. During the walk, large tangles of iguanas covered the "pahoehoe" lava flows, and newly born sea lions waved to us as we passed. Two exceptional sightings this afternoon were a Galapagos hawk catching and devouring a lava lizard, and a pair of octopuses mating in a tidal pool!
Today We awoke to a beautiful sunrise over dramatic cloud formations, in the proximity of a small, rocky outcrop standing alone in the middle of the ocean, Roca Redonda. Hundreds of seabirds were flying around the Polaris , while a small group of dolphins could be seen feeding. The waters in this westernmost part of the archipelago were cold and green, so particularly rich, and this marked the first of our whale sightings for many months. Two Bryde’s whales regularly surfaced before our eyes, before diving down into the depths. Another strange oceanic creature also made an appearance, the ocean sunfish, or Mola mola. It was truly a magnificent beginning to a day spent surrounded by tall volcanoes covered in black lava flows, and populated by strange and wonderful creatures such as flightless cormorants (we photographed one feeding a chick), and equatorial Galapagos penguins.
Another successful day in Galapagos! We all are sure that today's visit was enjoyed from beginning to end. We began our experience with incredible bird-watching on the island of Tower. Red footed boobies were probably the highlights of the morning, while hundreds of frigate birds above our heads, with the classical pterodactyl wing, took us back in time for few seconds and made us feel on a prehistoric field where only the fittest will survive. Our day would not be complete without the great experience of snorkeling, feeling like we floated in the air without gravity, sharing our bodies and our souls with the colorful fish that surround us, as we cruise along the environment that they master. Enjoying every minute of the afternoon's walk, it became a totally relaxing time, when the surprise of finding the short-eared owl in front of our eyes left us both motionless and breathless, and only the sound of a "click" brought us back to reality. Yes! I am a dreamer, and whoever was not when coming here, may probably be surprised at leaving Galapagos full of dreams!
What a beautiful day we had on Floreana, the most mysterious sisland in the Galapagos Archipelago! The morning began with a pre-breakfast outing to visit the famous Post Office Barrel, and the we explored several tiny islets by Zodiac. We found sea lions basking in the warmth of the early sun. After breakfast we had great snorkeling off of Champion Island, where we enjoyed swimming among schools of colorful fish, curious sea lions and even a few sharks. In the afternoon we landed on a greenish olivine beach at Punta Cormorant. The walk we took here was excellent, the weather was perfect, and it was a special experience to hike among Floreana's unique plants. The Lecocarpus pinnatifidus and Scalesia villosa that are in my photo are plants that are found only in the Galapagos. As the sun was setting we took the Zodiacs back to the ship.
Separated from the rest of the archipelago by deep waters, Genovesa is a place of oustanding beauty, conquered only by the avian world. No terrestrial reptiles or mammals have ever made it here, but their absence is more than made up for by the thousands of birds all around us. They are on the ground, in the trees and circling above our heads. Completely indifferent to our passage among them, we are allowed a unique insight into their world, their behavior, and the relationships between them. What better way to to teach one's children about the wonders of the natural world than to be surrounded by it? The look of wonder on everyone's face watching this tender moment between a great frigatebird chick and its father was a wonderful testimony to this.
We have had to wait for two years to see the waved albatross' chicks back on Española island! Albatrosses were greatly affected by last year's "El Niño" and have not bred successfully in the last several years. They are pelagic birds and forage far from the islands in the open sea. During "El Niño" they had to go even further than usual for food, and were forced to abandon their eggs. Yesterday we were astonished when we discovered seven albatross chicks. They were healthy, fluffy brown creatures, and a couple of them were right in the middle of the marked path! Some of our guests were lucky enough to see an adult bird regurgitate a complete squid to its chick. It was a special day for all of us: perfect temperature, blue-footed boobies dancing, iguanas sun bathing and the certainty that the albatrosses are doing fine this year.
A day with the giants! The morning was spent visiting the Charles Darwin Research Station, where the tortoises were all feeding, oblivious to our presence. The main highlight was to see those magnificent creatures in the wild........Wild? Well, they're wild tortoises but they've broken into a farm as they prefer the grass and other easy rich pickings compared to getting caught up in the trees of the endemic Scalesia forest. They're usually quite nervous around humans, after the past experiences of their not-so-distance ancestors with the 19th-century whalers, but this one seemed quite unperturbed by our presence. Some of us even saw a vermilion flycatcher land on its back.
