Genovesa Island
Early in the morning we entered into the heart of a volcano. Indeed! We did come into the inside of a gigantic collapsed caldera, which is part of Genovesa Island, located in the northeastern corner of the Galapagos.
Captains need a lot of experience to get into this bay, and our Captain Juan Rueda is the man for this. He has many years as a captain, facing storms and high seas all around the world. Also the M.V. Polaris is a good ship for this kind of task. With 14 feet draft she can go through shallow places.
Once inside the caldera, the sea floor drops to more than 600 feet deep. As soon as we anchored we could appreciate the lava layers, which tell about the past eruptions, and we could also enjoy the hundreds of birds that nest and rest on these layers.
Today we saw red-footed boobies, great frigatebirds, Nazca boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, and lava gulls, just to mention some of the seabirds of the island. The Galapagos mockingbird was also a sighting, and we shouldn’t forget the vampire finch, a tiny land bird with a taste for booby blood. The highlight of the afternoon was a short-eared owl only few feet away from the trail. One of or guests got this wonderful picture, one of the best we have ever gotten of the owl.
For dinner, Sofia Plonski, our hotel manager, organized a superb barbecue on the teak deck. We enjoyed a great meal, with the view of Genovesa Island and feeling the ocean breeze.
With a day like today, people draw closer to the simplicity and serenity of nature. One is revitalized by pure and tranquil beauty. Any bad thought vanishes, and we are refreshed in kindness and creativity, just as if we were new born.
Early in the morning we entered into the heart of a volcano. Indeed! We did come into the inside of a gigantic collapsed caldera, which is part of Genovesa Island, located in the northeastern corner of the Galapagos.
Captains need a lot of experience to get into this bay, and our Captain Juan Rueda is the man for this. He has many years as a captain, facing storms and high seas all around the world. Also the M.V. Polaris is a good ship for this kind of task. With 14 feet draft she can go through shallow places.
Once inside the caldera, the sea floor drops to more than 600 feet deep. As soon as we anchored we could appreciate the lava layers, which tell about the past eruptions, and we could also enjoy the hundreds of birds that nest and rest on these layers.
Today we saw red-footed boobies, great frigatebirds, Nazca boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, and lava gulls, just to mention some of the seabirds of the island. The Galapagos mockingbird was also a sighting, and we shouldn’t forget the vampire finch, a tiny land bird with a taste for booby blood. The highlight of the afternoon was a short-eared owl only few feet away from the trail. One of or guests got this wonderful picture, one of the best we have ever gotten of the owl.
For dinner, Sofia Plonski, our hotel manager, organized a superb barbecue on the teak deck. We enjoyed a great meal, with the view of Genovesa Island and feeling the ocean breeze.
With a day like today, people draw closer to the simplicity and serenity of nature. One is revitalized by pure and tranquil beauty. Any bad thought vanishes, and we are refreshed in kindness and creativity, just as if we were new born.
