This morning we had a group of guests who went out early with Juan Carlos to kayak along the rocky shores of Española Island. They found a mating pair of sea turtles, playful sea lions and soaring sea birds, all while having a wonderful paddle! Meanwhile, our wellness specialist Maria led another group in yoga stretches, followed by a healthy green smoothie drink. When the kayakers returned, with smiles on their faces, we all headed to the dining room and enjoyed a delicious and bountiful breakfast.
We gathered in the lounge for a snorkel safety briefing and then were fitted for our snorkel gear on the sky deck. Those who were good swimmers and had snorkeled before boarded the Zodiacs for deep water snorkeling with Juan Carlos, Walter and I. The conditions were fabulous! We had a calm sea and cool, clear water. We swam among friendly, cavorting sea lions, saw a couple of diamond sting rays, an eel and more than 20 species of fish! Reluctantly we climbed back into the Zodiacs, changed quickly into dry clothes back on the ship and then spent a delightful 45 minutes on the lovely white sand beach at Gardner Bay.
Lunch today was a fabulous, traditional Ecuadorian buffet and we enjoyed a siesta afterwards. In the afternoon we disembarked on the lava rocks at Punta Suarez. The tide was so high that the landing dock was awash with waves! The trail we followed was extremely rocky so we went slowly, looking down to carefully choose our way. My goodness, was it ever worth every bit of the effort we made! We saw sea lions resting, fighting, nursing and even a newborn! We found piles of marine iguanas snorting saline spray out their nostrils. We found Nazca boobies incubating their eggs and all three of the species of finches that are found on Española – the small billed ground finch, the large billed cactus finch and the warbler finch! We had a good look at a handsome, chocolate-colored Galapagos hawk. Most impressive of all were the elegant, waved albatross. We watched them take off at the cliff edge, saw the still fluffy juvenile birds and watched the elaborate courtship dance of paired adults. As we returned to the ship the sun set, a bold orange ball of fire that rapidly disappeared into the Pacific.
The Zodiacs returned for us and this time, because the tide had dropped, we were able to easily climb back into the boats from the cement dock. As dusk fell we motored back to the National Geographic Islander and wondered, how could tomorrow possibly be any better than today? Well, let’s see what these islas encantadas have in store for us…
