We arrived today at the last island of our expedition: Genovesa. This lonely rock, known as “Bird’s Island”, is populated by more than a million nesting birds. Birds don’t fear humans and therefore are most often unaware of our presence. Early in the morning our first activity was landing on Darwin’s Bay, where there is a beach made of broken pieces of white coral and where the beginning of our trail is located. We did not have to search too far before finding birds, especially the highlight of today’s visit: the red-footed boobies. We also found frigate birds as they were feeding their babies after they returned from stealing fish from other birds! After a hot morning some of us needed to refresh and there was a last chance to snorkel in these waters which are full of big animals like the rays and turtles. We even had the opportunity to see some playful sea lions.
After lunch we collected the many pictures from the week which most of the guests shared for our slideshow, an item that everyone will receive later as a souvenir. After a well-deserved siesta, we visited Prince Phillip’s Steps. This location offers a very different terrain from the one this morning. In this area we found a rocky trail covered by a forest of palo-santo trees and endless nests of sea birds, especially Nazca boobies. We also found thousands of storm petrels, and we searched for the short-eared owl, the top of the food chain on this land. As the afternoon came to a close we cruised by Zodiac observing the beautiful blue ocean. This was our last day in paradise…
