Day 146: January 8, 2008 Isla Española
Trip Start
Aug 15, 2007
1
149
202
Trip End
Mar 01, 2008
Isla Española,
Ecuador
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
I slept like a rock and awoke for our 7:00 AM breakfast completely refreshed. The crossing was apparently rocking a lot but no one complained of any seasickness. We ate a good breakfast and prepared for a wet landing on Gardiner Beach at 8:00.
The landing was easy as we arrived at a beautiful white sand beach on the northwestern shore of Isla Española, a new island for me. As usual, the beach was lined with sea lions. The mockingbird species on the island is particularly curious and completely unafraid of humans. I walked to the rocks at the eastern end of the beach, where I found several "Christmas" iguanas. These are actually marine iguanas that have an unusual red and green coloration. I also saw several finch varieties. On my return to the group, I saw a Galápagos hawk and a lava heron.
Antionio gathered everyone at 10:00 for a snorkeling excursion around an offshore rock about 400 m away. Once out there, he showed us a couple of 2 m white-tipped sharks resting in a cave. One of them came out and I swam after it for 40 m or so before he turned around and returned to his hole.
We swam through thousands of fish, mostly yellowtail surgeonfish and black-tailed mullets, but many other species as well. Back at the west end of the island, I saw three ray species, including a very large whiptail stingray almost a meter across. I dove down and stared him right in the eyes from about 10 cm away, the only things sticking out of the sand. He wiggled a little and his true outline was revealed. He was quite impressive. Joe and Clare found a tiger snake eel but it had hidden itself in the rocks by the time I arrived.
We returned to shore after our 1 km swim. I could feel it! The panga came in and took us back to the boat where we soon had lunch as we sailed to Punta Suarez on the southwestern side of the island. Our hike onshore was not until 3:00 so most people returned to their cabins for a siesta. I did too; it felt great!
At 3:00, we loaded into the panga and were dropped off near the lighthouse at Punta Suarez. By now the experience of nearly tripping over sleeping sea lions, marine iguanas, nesting blue-footed boobies, and lava lizards is almost commonplace. We also encountered numerous Nazca boobies and frigate birds as well as another hawk and lava gulls. New birds that we saw were a nesting Galápagos albatross, numerous tropicbirds, and an oystercatcher with its chick. We also saw numerous Nazca boobie chicks. The 3 km hike brought us back to the landing area where we watched a lava heron snag a Sally-lightfoot crab for dinner. The panga took us back to the boat a few minutes later.
Onboard, our routines are well established. I took a shower and then joined the others for a cocktail and talk until dinner. After dinner, we had our briefing for tomorrow's excursions on Floreana and then everyone retired to their cabins by 8:00. Todd and I split a bottle of wine as we wrote and read. Then I read my book until sleep overcame me.
