|
  | |  |
Galapagos Day 2 - Birding Paradise
Entry 148 of 160 | show all | print this entry |
|
DAY TWO
We arrived at the island of Genovesa in the early hours of the morning - I know this as my bunk suddenly stopped shaking and the and the noise quietened down as the engine was turned off. The rocking didn't bother me at all - I felt quite soothed by it, but as my cabin was at the back of the boat we were both aware of the motor. Pat and I had resorted to earplugs and so dozed off anyway, Kevin and Brigitta hadn't managed either.
But again I was pleased we were on this smaller boat and not one of the monsters - we'd encountered some of their passengers the previous day on North Seymour and they were awful. Very loud and shouting at the animals - their behaviour was so bad that at one stage both Isolde and I asked two particular elderly women to keep their voices down - they really should have known better. Thank goodness we had an understanding group with no one wanting to disturb the animals.
We had fantastic breakfast with loads of different hot and cold dishes just before we attempted our first wet landing at Darwin Bay. Genovesa is quite a way from Baltra island and so it doesn't attract as many tourist boats. In fact Maria told us that many of the larger ones aren't permitted to come here.
We had a lovely morning walking very slowly and very quietly around - I think we took about three hours to walk just over 2kms! We spotted Red-footed Boobies (you've guessed it - they've got red feet...), Great and Magnificent Frigatebirds, cheeky Galapagos Mockingbirds, Sea Lions and Marine Iguanas. I'm sure I've forgotten other things we saw.
We had lunch on deck - with a juvenile Brown Pelican watching greedily from the dingy in case we dropped any scraps. We also saw our first Marine Turtle who saw alongside the boat.
In the afternoon, after a siesta, we made the short journey in the dingy to Prince Phillip Step's. When we got there we found some very big sleepy Sea Lions blocking our path so we had to clap our hands loudly to get them to move. They reluctantly leapt into the water.
Genovesa is a bird of a bird paradise and so we spotted more Frigatebirds, nesting Galapagos Doves, Mockingbirds, Red-footed Boobies with their chicks, Storm Petrels, Red-billed Tropicbirds and a Short-eared Galapagos Owl. Maria was very excited by this - it was her first sighting of him in six months.
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Ecuador or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
38 votes 
