Sunrise saw us sailing into the collapsed caldera of Genovesa Island, an old volcano situated in the northern waters of the archipelago. As we entered Darwin Bay, we were escorted by hundreds of birds welcoming us to their majestic abode. Surrounded by ocean and free of terrestrial predators, this island is really idyllic for a seabird, and as such we can find colonies of hundreds, even thousands of these magnificent animals: frigatebirds, Nazca boobies, red-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, petrels, and tropic birds abound here. And among the land birds we spotted owls, curious mockingbirds and tiny finches going about their daily affairs, oblivious of our presence.
We visited two separate landing sites, one at Prince Philip’s Steps and the other at Darwin Bay. During these hikes, several short-eared owls were spotted patiently waiting for smaller birds to fly close enough to be pounced on, whilst everywhere other birds courted, nested, and interacted in so many different ways. A great highlight of the day was our first encounter with the colorful red-footed boobies, just as enchanting as their blue-footed cousins, yet, unlike them, found nesting and perching in trees! Although this is predominantly a bird island, the white coralline beach formed at the far end of the caldera is also home to a delightful small sea lion colony, and much to our delight, one of the sea lions proceeded to give birth before our very eyes! The feeling of being invisibly immersed in a nature documentary is forever with us, as these strange and wonderful creatures, so completely ecologically naïve, go on with their lives unhindered.
Being more northerly, Genovesa is located in a different marine ecological zone from the other islands we visited during the week, and the fish we saw while snorkeling reflected this by being more tropical in composition: several large parrot fish species, angel fish, wrasse and Moorish idols abounded. And kayakers got to paddle at the base of impressive cliffs, which the cries of the birds overhead reverberated round the caldera.
There could not possible have been a better way to end a magical adventure through the Galápagos Islands.
