The Evolution traveled overnight from Santa Cruz to the southern most island in the Galapagos, Espanola Island. We were rocking and rolling all night long…there must have been some serious swells.
Espanola means “little Spain”, and this island was named after the island in the Caribbean with the same name, discovered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage. Espanola Island is considered one of the oldest islands in the Galapagos, at 4 million years old.
We were supposed to go ashore at a spot called Punta Suarez, but because the avian flu was recently discovered here, we simply cruised the shoreline in the pangas. We were fortunately able to pull into a small cove, so we could avoid the waves.
Right after the above wave broke, the panga driver gunned it so we could avoid the next set. Here was the next set. Glad he got this rock formation in front of us!
The protected little cove was filled with various wildlife. We have seen so many baby sea lions on this trip, but they are always so cute you have to take a photo!
The marine iguanas subspecies on Espanola Island are a completely different color. The naturalists referred to them as “Christmas iguanas”, since they are red and green. They are only these colors during mating season….which is apparently now! The brighter colored iguanas are the males. Quick question, are we still allowed to specify the sex of animals? I can’t keep up with the current trends.
This female is still pretty colorful, showing off the red and black.
This cove had several boatloads of Homo Sapiens, which are not endemic to the Galapagos. They are easily identified due to their bright clothing and the fact they hold a rectangular chunk of metal and plastic in front of their face about 12 hours a day. Did I mention our yacht just recently installed Starlink, so you can be on the internet 24/7?
This guy in particular did NOT like Homo Sapiens invading his territory!
We cruised a ways down the coast and saw this sea lion family basking in the sun. Their kid was the only one awake, and he was quite interested in the weird Homo Sapiens passing by.
To save on time we actually boarded the Evolution from our panga while the yacht was underway….by driving up the stern on a metal ramp they dropped into the water. Reminded me of my Navy days!
We were headed to another part of Espanola Island called Gardner Bay. On arrival, we had our last snorkeling adventure of the trip, which turned out to be the best one of all, because of the numerous sea lions that swam with us. There were at least 7-8 of them that couldn’t get enough of us!
The bulk of the playful sea lions were obviously the young ones. The mother just swam below us, keeping a watchful eye on her babies. I had at least two of the young sea lions swim right at my face only to turn away at the very last second. It was amazing!
Here I am in my new-age mask/snorkel combination. I found this worked far better for me than the traditional setup. Your mileage may vary, but it’s worth trying out if you have a snorkeling trip coming up.
One last shot of some sea lions in action. They were so much fun!
After lunch we took the pangas to the beautiful Gardner Beach, with gorgeous soft white sand.
There were these friendly Galapagos Mockingbirds on the beach. Fletcher even put some water in his hand and one of them drank right from his hand! Cute little guys.
This young sea lion was getting a lot of attention from everybody on the beach. I’m still amazed at how unfazed they are by our presence.
This is such a beautiful spot for a walk.
The sun broke out and made the sand look surreal.
I had to get a shot of Fletch in this beautiful setting.
After dinner we noticed the yacht had the stern lights shining in the water, and it was attracting a huge number of sharks. There must have been 40 of them, maybe more, as they were hard to count since they were milling back and forth. The extra light is from my flashlight.
Up next, we wake up early to view the iconic Kicker Rock before heading into San Cristobal, where we depart the Evolution and then fly back to Quito.