Blogs from Española Island, Galápagos, Ecuador, South America - page 2

Gardener Bay, Española Island - without a doubt the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. White sand and at least four different shades of blue in the sea. I can totally understand why the sea lions chose this beach to do their sun bathing on. Unfortunately though, Merlyn was really ill this morning which meant she missed out - such a shame. But she felt better by the afternoon so didn´t miss the whole island. This time, it was a wet landing so I had to make tough decision on whether or not to take my camera. I didn´t take it in the end but regretted it as the wet landing was actually that wet at all. But if it had had been destroyed, I would have been totally gutted. Didn´t really do much on ... read more

I was pleasantly surprised this morning when a platter of bacon was added to the usual breakfast buffet. This is the first time I´ve had bacon since September, and it was a very highly appreciated reunion. Española is the southernmost island in the Galapagos, giving it a very remote location and making it a perfect place for endemic fauna. We took the dinghy boat to Gardener Bay Beach, which is a huge white sandy beach with rolling waves... and lots and lots of stinky sealions! Before the Galapagos National Park developed a stick code of conduct regarding the feeding of animals, people used to give the mockingbirds water out of their waterbottles. In result of that, the mockinbirds are attracted to waterbottles, and if you hold one or put one in the sand they will land ... read more

Islas De Galapagos, Isla Española/Hispaõla, 12-10-1990, Morning. Having an early morning swim while my fellow passengers are still recovering from their first encounter with high waves and green Galapagos vomit, I'm having my first encounter with the Gapagos Islands' fearless animals...sean lions defy me to participate in their sub-aqautic play, their slender seal-like bodies all around me, dark shadows shooting past my snorkle, their acrobatic actions in their salty liquid realm would put any human professional swimmer a blosh of shame to the face... Though these stunning islands have been a favorite anchor place by an succession of human fortune seeekers like buccaneers and pirates, whalers and maritime traders using the Galapagos islands as a safe anchoring place, fire wood and fresh water, giant tortoises that could be stacked in the ship's hold in their hunderts ... read more

Hola!! Right well this was the one we were waiting for. It cost the most of any single trip we have ever taken, we had been thinking about it for years and it didn´t let us down. We arrived on Baltra Island on Saturday just gone. Good flight but hairy landing as its only a very small island, the plane banks quite sharply and comes into land at the edge of the island just over the sea. And the runway itself is very short and ends in the sea at the far side! We were met by our guide straight away and brought to our rather fancy boat. It was small but very well kept and judging by the others docked beside us every night we did quite well. Very first thing before even boarding we ... read more

Our last wildlife day. Sad! Española Island first in the morning. Masked boobies, sea lions, marine iguanas (red instead of just black), lava lizards (bigger), swallow-tail gulls (the ones that are everywhere here), Galapagos mockingbirds, Galapagos hawks (2 of them, and it's rare to even see one), and albatross. The albatross are pretty big and walk really awkwardly! We saw their big eggs too. On the boat ride to Garner Bay we saw orcas again! 4 of them, 2 babies. One of them completely jumped out of the water multiple times! And then they followed us over to the bay. Orcas are rare in the Galapagos and we saw them twice! At Garner Bay we went snorkeling for the last time. Lots of sea lions on the beach. The big male decided he liked one of ... read more