Genovesa Island
At dawn on this Thanksgiving morning, the Polaris entered the eroded and submerged caldera of Genovesa Island. Captain Hinojosa carefully lined up the navigational aids and guided the ship across the worn and sunken caldera rim. At the shallowest spot, we had only 8.5 meters (around 25 feet) of water below our keel. We approached the layered inner cliff walls to within 200 meters and dropped 150 meters of anchor chain to secure the ship’s position. It is no simple thing to anchor inside a deep, flooded volcano!
We disembarked on a tiny white coral beach and were immediately surrounded by fluttering, feeding, courting and calling seabirds. Frigates, red-footed and Nazca boobies and swallow-tailed gulls were all at various stages in their breeding cycles. Several fluffy grey gull chicks entertained us with their comical antics. The one pictured here spent a long time perched on our backpacks and snorkel gear. He poked and pulled and investigated, and appeared just as curious about us as we were about him. After the walk, we swam and snorkeled and a group of dedicated “beach babes” hung out for an extra hour on the sand among the flying and crying birds. A pair of “muy macho” sea lions entertained us as they fervently chased one another across the sand and out to sea.
The afternoon walk in the late, golden light, across a thin arm of the crater and then along a breezy stretch of broken lava where frigates and boobies were nesting, was spectacular. We were delighted when, after much searching, we finally spotted a small, extremely well-camouflaged short-eared owl.
Thanksgiving Day on Genovesa, the island of a million seabirds! I can’t think of anywhere on earth, more inspiring and pristine, that I would rather be. On this day of thankfulness, I am personally thankful for the opportunity to work in one of the world’s most amazing and beautiful places. I am grateful that these exceptional Galápagos Islands, through the support of conservation minded individuals and organizations from all over the world, are being restored and protected. We have some very serious environmental problems in Galápagos; no one will deny this fact. However, because these islands are still intact, there is yet time to salvage them. Most of the world’s fragile oceanic island systems are ecological disasters. We must save Galápagos from a similar fate. We owe it to our children and our grandchildren; they too deserve to have the chance to walk among courting boobies and watch frigatebirds feed their chicks. They deserve the opportunity to swim with fearless and playful sea lions in the crystal clear turquoise waters that surround these very special islands.
At dawn on this Thanksgiving morning, the Polaris entered the eroded and submerged caldera of Genovesa Island. Captain Hinojosa carefully lined up the navigational aids and guided the ship across the worn and sunken caldera rim. At the shallowest spot, we had only 8.5 meters (around 25 feet) of water below our keel. We approached the layered inner cliff walls to within 200 meters and dropped 150 meters of anchor chain to secure the ship’s position. It is no simple thing to anchor inside a deep, flooded volcano!
We disembarked on a tiny white coral beach and were immediately surrounded by fluttering, feeding, courting and calling seabirds. Frigates, red-footed and Nazca boobies and swallow-tailed gulls were all at various stages in their breeding cycles. Several fluffy grey gull chicks entertained us with their comical antics. The one pictured here spent a long time perched on our backpacks and snorkel gear. He poked and pulled and investigated, and appeared just as curious about us as we were about him. After the walk, we swam and snorkeled and a group of dedicated “beach babes” hung out for an extra hour on the sand among the flying and crying birds. A pair of “muy macho” sea lions entertained us as they fervently chased one another across the sand and out to sea.
The afternoon walk in the late, golden light, across a thin arm of the crater and then along a breezy stretch of broken lava where frigates and boobies were nesting, was spectacular. We were delighted when, after much searching, we finally spotted a small, extremely well-camouflaged short-eared owl.
Thanksgiving Day on Genovesa, the island of a million seabirds! I can’t think of anywhere on earth, more inspiring and pristine, that I would rather be. On this day of thankfulness, I am personally thankful for the opportunity to work in one of the world’s most amazing and beautiful places. I am grateful that these exceptional Galápagos Islands, through the support of conservation minded individuals and organizations from all over the world, are being restored and protected. We have some very serious environmental problems in Galápagos; no one will deny this fact. However, because these islands are still intact, there is yet time to salvage them. Most of the world’s fragile oceanic island systems are ecological disasters. We must save Galápagos from a similar fate. We owe it to our children and our grandchildren; they too deserve to have the chance to walk among courting boobies and watch frigatebirds feed their chicks. They deserve the opportunity to swim with fearless and playful sea lions in the crystal clear turquoise waters that surround these very special islands.
