Espanola (Hood), Galapagos Islands - Day 3

Gardner Bay

December 24th is the day Ecuadoreans celebrate Christmas. What a day of extraordinary experiences in wild and beautiful places. In the early morning, we kayaked along the rocky lava coast near Gardner Bay, where a yellow warbler hopped by and posed briefly with a sea lion lounging on the rocks.

Yellow Warbler with Sea Lion

Next came a wet landing from the panga on the beautiful white sand beach at Gardner Bay.

Landing at Gardner Bay

Large numbers of sea lions lay about, many of the females lying in the sun in groups for warmth, some moving around languidly, and all of them barely noticing the human visitors. The young were more active in moving around the beach and playing in the edge of the surf.

Sea Lions at Gardner Bay

Young Sea Lions playing in surf

Sea Lion joins girls playing on beach

Greg warned us to be wary of the big mature males, called "beach masters." Much darker than the females, these big animals can become very protective of their space during the mating season. They did seem fearsome, and we kept our distance from the beach master. On the beach we also saw the Hood Island Mockingbird and Hood Island Lava Lizard.

Beach Master

There are four different species of Mockingbird in Galapagos, where speciation has taken place on different islands. Our pocket guide noted that they are best identified by the island on which they are observed. The Hood Island Mockingbird has the longest and most down-curved bill.

Espanola (Hood Island) Mockingbird

Our first snorkel of the trip, here in Gardner Bay, was a delightful experience. We saw large schools of Yellow Tailed Surgeonfish, a few King Angelfish and many other colorful fish. The water temperature was 73 degrees F.


Punta Espinoza

In the afternoon, we went ashore via a dry landing at Punta Suarez, an especially photogenic place, for some amazing sights. Greg had told us that this was an excellent time for observing marine iguanas. Food is plentiful, and they are coming into the mating season when the males exhibit more color. On Espanola they take on more red and green, and to me these were the most striking of the Marine Iguanas we saw.

Marine Iguana at Punta Suarez

We saw a beautiful pair of adult Galapagos Hawks shortly after landing, as well as striking and graceful Red Billed Tropicbirds.

Galapagos Hawk

Along the shore, we observed more Sea Lions and Iguanas.

As we walked inland over uneven lava, we were delighted to see more Blue Footed Boobies, with younger chicks than we had seen on N. Seymour, right by the trail. Typically a pair of boobies will have two chicks, but only one will survive. We felt lucky to see this bird when it still had both chicks.

Blue Footed Booby with two chicks

Blue Footed Booby

Farther along on our walk we saw a number of the striking Nazca Boobies, including this one incubating an egg.

Nazca Booby

Nazca Boobies

The the high black lava cliffs of the shoreline of Espanola with surf breaking below is a beautiful sight. 

Nazca Booby and coastline near Punta Suarez

We saw quite a few lava lizards on this trip, and our guide to "Terrestrial Life of Galapagos" lists three species of these lizards, as well as two geckos, some found only on a single island. The female Espanola Lava Lizard has a distinctive red face and throat.

Espanola Lava Lizard (female)

On the bluffs above the ocean, we had wonderful views of several Waved Albatross, both adults and chicks. We had been told a year before by our tour operator that we would not see Waved Albatross, as they would not be in the islands in December. However, Greg explained that because this is a La Nina year, and one of the strongest he remembers, there has been an upwelling of cooler water than normal around the Galapagos, producing especially nutrient rich waters and more plentiful food for all the animals that depend on the sea for food. So the Waved Albatross was still here.

The large heavy Albatross has difficulty launching into flight from the ground, so they waddle over to the cliff edge and jump off in order to become airborne. We stayed around the albatross about 20 minutes, and just as Greg had described, we watched one of the adults take off into the air in this way. 

Waved Albatross (photo by Sumit Roy)

We watched an adult feeding a chick, another funny-looking downy chick sitting right by the trail, and even watched a mating display between two adults. This is quite a dance, with head bobbing and beak-clacking in unison while they face each other, all the while flapping their wings and calling out to each other.

Waved Albatross with chick

Waved Albatross chick

Back on our yacht, the crew had hung a small artificial Christmas wreath on each cabin door, and strung lights in the main areas of the boat including the dining room. The chef had prepared a wonderful roast turkey Christmas feast, including several delicious Ecuadorean side dishes. Another wonderful day during this perfect vacation in Galapagos.

Sagitta at sunset

NEXT POST: Floreana - Day 4

North Seymour, Galapagos Islands - Day 1

Not long after this first day in Galapagos we were already convinced that the way to get the most out of a visit here is to have Greg Estes as our guide. Later in the week we eventually learned there are 500 registered guides in Galapagos National Park, and Greg is the one who has been hired by photography crews from BBC and Discovery Channel, and groups like The Nature Conservancy and the best universities when they visit Galapagos. Greg and his wife Thalia Grant have been described as the world experts on Darwin in Galapagos and published a book by that name in 2009. He speaks knowledgeably about the latest research, the wildlife, plants and geology of the islands.


A scientist, naturalist, and photographer, holding a biology degree with honors from the U. of London, Greg has been doing research and guiding in Galapagos since 1982. Even more important for making the trip especially enjoyable as well as memorable, he is fun to be with - gregarious, good-natured, personable, patient, and an excellent story-teller with a warm sense of humor and a great laugh. He is awesome as a guide.  

Sagitta

This was the first day of a seven day adventure cruise in the Galapagos Islands. Greg met us at the airport in Baltra, for a short bus ride to our boat where we ate lunch while our luggage was loaded onto the boat along with food for a week for 16 guests, guide and crew. The Sagitta is a lovely yacht and will take us 500 miles through the archipelago over the next seven days.


After a quick transfer to North Seymour Island aboard the Sagitta, we made a dry landing from our panga onto lava rocks. 

The first bird we identified was a Swallow Tailed Gull in the water next to our boat, and another on the rocks near the trail. 

Swallow Tailed Gull

Magnificent and Frigate Birds soared above, and within a few feet we had to step over one of what would be many Sea Iguanas we would encounter throughout the week.  We hiked through endemic Palo Santo, a small tree found only in Galapagos, which had no leaves in late December.

We saw Blue Footed Boobies, both adults and chicks - several of them on or right next to the trail - as well as a Galapagos Dove, Yellow Warbler, and our first finch, a Small Ground Finch.

Blue Footed Booby on trail

The famous blue feet

Galapagos Dove

Male Magnificent Frigate Birds in mating display are very flamboyant with their inflated red throat pouches.

Magnificent Frigate Bird (male in mating display)

This Galapagos Land Iguana on North Seymour was a rich golden color. Later we noticed that these and most of the other animals vary in appearance from island to island.

Galapagos Land Iguana

Sea Lions lounged and posed on the sand as we completed our loop across the island towards the end of the afternoon.

NEXT POST: Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands - Day 2