Española Island
Our day began with a great excursion to the island of Hood (also known as Española), located in the southeastern most corner of this archipelago. We had an unusually low tide, and when we got to the landing place had a few more steps than usual to reach the jetty. Our very skilled “pangeros” (Zodiac drivers) are so professional and well trained that they put us on shore with no problem at all.
Once we began with our shore expedition we realized that just 6 hours ago high tide was the reason why so many sea lions were lying right in middle of the trail. After having some adventures and close encounters with boobies, marine iguanas, gulls and babies sea lions, we arrived at the “best scene in years” where the albatross’ courtship is concerned. Seven of these great birds were within ten feet of the trail, dancing, fencing, and generally courting with each other. Their courtship is one of the best shows on earth.
It is always seen in the wildlife films, but this was live, this was real, and this was better!
This is the time of year that the albatross start courting again. The younger adults are just getting to know each other, but in the other cases this is to reinforce their supposedly monogamous lifestyle. Hopefully we’ll see more of this before they fly away at the end of the year.
A little further on we saw other albatross with an end-of-the-year deadline. They were the chicks. As you may have read before, they are growing fast and have to fly from Hood Island by the end of the year and they still look like they are on schedule to do this.
After this great time, we went for a rich, delicious lunch, and relaxed later in Gardner Bay where we had various alternatives and we certainly enjoyed all of them. Our snorkelers went to Tortuga Islet and found some of the best examples of Galapagos underwater fauna including this scrawled filefish, which it is not so common around this area.
We hope you like these two moments captured by the camera!
Hasta luego!!!
Our day began with a great excursion to the island of Hood (also known as Española), located in the southeastern most corner of this archipelago. We had an unusually low tide, and when we got to the landing place had a few more steps than usual to reach the jetty. Our very skilled “pangeros” (Zodiac drivers) are so professional and well trained that they put us on shore with no problem at all.
Once we began with our shore expedition we realized that just 6 hours ago high tide was the reason why so many sea lions were lying right in middle of the trail. After having some adventures and close encounters with boobies, marine iguanas, gulls and babies sea lions, we arrived at the “best scene in years” where the albatross’ courtship is concerned. Seven of these great birds were within ten feet of the trail, dancing, fencing, and generally courting with each other. Their courtship is one of the best shows on earth.
It is always seen in the wildlife films, but this was live, this was real, and this was better!
This is the time of year that the albatross start courting again. The younger adults are just getting to know each other, but in the other cases this is to reinforce their supposedly monogamous lifestyle. Hopefully we’ll see more of this before they fly away at the end of the year.
A little further on we saw other albatross with an end-of-the-year deadline. They were the chicks. As you may have read before, they are growing fast and have to fly from Hood Island by the end of the year and they still look like they are on schedule to do this.
After this great time, we went for a rich, delicious lunch, and relaxed later in Gardner Bay where we had various alternatives and we certainly enjoyed all of them. Our snorkelers went to Tortuga Islet and found some of the best examples of Galapagos underwater fauna including this scrawled filefish, which it is not so common around this area.
We hope you like these two moments captured by the camera!
Hasta luego!!!
