Living the Dream

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It doesn't get much better than when you find yourself doing whatever you enjoy most. If that comes about by chance, that's good, if by design, it's all the better. My lust for the outdoors, wildlife and photography have come together very nicely here in the Galapagos.

After an arduous slog across the southern pacific ocean overnight, one that kept most of us awake as doors slammed, glasses smashed and all sorts crashed around the boat in the big swell, we found ourselves at another paradisical beach festooned with sea lions and patrolled by Frigate birds. The island was Espaniola.

The weather wasn't flash and everyone was feeling the effects of little sleep. Nonetheless we walked down the beach to find a rare Galapagos Hawk, sodden from the recent downpour. Perched on a rock at the edge of the beach, the beautiful hawk was powerless to fly away until its feathers dried out.

I was amazed how this beautiful bird let me get so close, just two meters away.

Last minute decisions are often the best and when the lads decided, despite some indifferent weather and cold water, to snorkel out to some rocks, we were rewarded with a close encounter with two white tipped sharks. They swam around us as if they were any other fish. We saw leopard sea snakes, cornetfish and many others in our best snorkel yet.

Another snorkel provided us with a great swim and play with sea lions again before we had lunch and then we motored along the coast from Gardeners Bay to Suarez Point, a beautful spot. As shy as I normally am of maternity wards, it seemed like we'd hit upon maternity central for the Galapagoes.

A carpet of marine iguanas greeted us on arrival and then we bumped into the birthing clinic for the Galapagoes Sea Lion. Males were fending visitors off the females, who still had placentres dangling. New born pups were attracting oohhs and arrrs.

We headed up a path towards the cliff and found it difficult not to tread on iguanas and lava lizards. Suddenly we came across an albatross chick that surely inspired the ugly duckling story.

As we progressed up the path, we came across adult Waved Albatrosses conducting their strange mating ritual of stepping, waddling and clipping beaks. These birds mate for life - 30 years yet spend 6+ months apart at sea without landing, returning to the same spot to mate and share the care of their young. Humans will do well to achieve this.

Suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by nesting birds, Albatross, Blue Footed Boobies, Nazca Boobies and Red-billed Tropicbirds, all nesting, squawking and smelling of guano! An albatross, at two metres, has the largest wingspan of a flying bird. And watching them take off and land is funny. Their wings are fine-tuned for 6 months without landing but not for stopping quickly. Almost always they topple forward and then look up to see if anyone was watching, a bit like me on the fairway. In the air they soar around without as much as a flap.

Whether you like birds and maternity wards or not, Suarez Point will capture your attention and be you of those experiences you will never forget.

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