Galápagos Day 2: Isla Española

Good Morning, Galapagos! And thank goodness for the morning, because our first night on the boat was a little rougher than we both expected. About 1:00 in the morning, the boat began to move from its anchor in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno towards our next destination, and not coincidentally, Jennifer and I awoke at the same time to a sensation of ungodly lurching and heaving as our tiny boat hurdled over the swells and waves that must have been missed when someone named it the PACIFIC ocean. So, lurching and heaving soon gave us feelings that we needed to do our own lurching and heaving… Jennifer had a bit more trouble than I did and took some medicine, but I tried to tough it out, sloshing around in my bed all night, praying for land!

Finally, around dawn, we arrived at our next port-of-call: Isla Espanola, a remarkably flat little island south of San Cristobal. Our first excursion took us to Punta Suarez, a land of breathtaking vertical cliffs overlooking a turbulent blue sea that sprayed white mist over the landscape. We boarded our panga and dry-landed on a sandy beach, where we were greeted by lizards, iguanas,crabs, and one of the staple animals of the Galapagos: the blue-footed booby, so named because of its striking blue feet. The bird is named “booby” because the people who named it thought it looked stupid, which it kinda does (looks even stupider when trying to mate… more on that later).

Our hike from our landing spot took us winding around the Cliffside, where we met more iguanas and crabs, but this visit was mostly about the birds! So many different types of birds – masked boobies, blue-footed boobies, frigatebirds...

...even a couple of hawks decided to make an ominous appearance.

And all the while, the cliffside vistas provided an incredible backdrop to such nature!

As if the crashing waves weren’t enough, we came across “blow-holes,” areas in the rocks below that formed tall, narrow crevices so that when the water rushed in, it came spewing upwards in a tremendous plume, like a geyser!

In the brush more inland, we encountered another spectacular bird: the Albatross. A lot of them would lounge around, guarding nests or breeding sites, or they would wander around amidst the bushes. Occasionally we would see and hear them claping their enormous beaks together (a mating call of sorts).

Once we came across an albatross egg, but did not disturb it lest we wished that great beak of theirs to clap around our hands!

So once we had our fill of Punta Suarez, we wandered back to the landing point where the panga was their waiting to ferry us back to the mothership. Once back, we enjoyed a lunch cooked by the spectacular chef Edi, and our ship embarked off to our second excursion on Espanola: Gardner Bay, where a beach littered with sea lions awaited us. Our Lonely Planet guide actually described Gardner Bay as a “mine field” of sea lions, which is about accurate. As we landed, we found ourselves surrounded by blobs of groaning, coughing, and barking sea lions of all shapes and sizes, as well as the occasional marine iguana, crab, and bird.

This excursion also provided us with our second opportunity to snorkel – and our first time to snorkel with sea lions! I can’t begin to describe to you the thrill of snorkeling with sea lions, watching them rush playfully around you, sometimes imitating swimming movements that you do. The curious ones get right in your face, too, which can be a little intimidating depending on their size, but freakin’ cool nonetheless. Believe me, they’re much more exciting in the water than they are on land!

Once done there, we boarded our boat and showered, which felt REALLY good after a day of hiking and snorkeling, and then relaxed the rest of the day, chilling out at the front of the boat, eating another delicious meal cooked by Edi.

A good day was had by all. Now to rest up for our next day on Isla Floreana!