Genovesa‘s Prince Philip’s Steps is a 25 meter high mostly-natural series of “steps” that leads up to a plateau for wildlife.  My guide said it was named for when Price Philip (of the UK) visited back in the 1970s he tripped and busted his lip open on the rocks.  I don’t know about that, but it’s a good story.  This picture is from when we went back down at the end of the hike, but you can see how steep it is.

Silversea categorizes its hikes at “Easy”, “Moderate”, “Adventurous” and “Challenging”.  This morning’s Darwin Bay beach walk was “Easy”.  We never left sight of the Zodiac and a wheel chair could have made it, assuming it had mountain bike tires (because of the sand).  The Steps are “Adventurous”.  Not only was getting up to the plateau difficult, several times the “path” involved you jumping from rock to rock.  Well, for me it was shuffle from rock to rock.

At the top we found some old friends.  Here’s a shot of a Red-Footed Booby where you see how it’s feet (and back claw) help it sit on branches.

There were also more Frigatebirds.  Here’s a great view of the Great Frigatebird, with it’s green sheen on its back feathers.  Later on, we had a good view of dad with a chick.  Our guide explained the parents take turns hunting as the chick grows.

Then we met the Nazca Booby.  They nest on the open ground, compared to the Red-Footed in trees.  I didn’t get any good photos of the nest, and there is a story there, but I’m sure I’ll have more chances.

The plateau is spread out and we are only allowed on the path, so many of the wildlife are too far away for interesting pictures.  However, it was great listening to the guide and seeing the birds in action.  There was a Galapagos Short-Eared Owl on the ground about 200 meters off the path, facing away from us.  While there are hawks in the Galapagos, there are none on Genovesa – so the owl is the top predator here.  And all the other birds knew it as they keep circling around and making noises.

Our guide tried hard to find more but accepted defeat as we got to the end of the path and turned around.  Then at a bridge near the Steps he found one directly under the bridge, only about 3 meters from us.  There was no way to get a better angle due to the owl being in the crevice that the bridge was spanning.

Just a few steps farther down the path we spotted a young Yellow-Crowned Night Heron in the bush.

I’m not really a bird guy, but Genovesa is the bird island, and they really are everywhere.  There are very few land mammals in the Galapagos.   When some are accidentally introduced (like rats from ships) the Park Authorities set traps from them.

Here’s the first good picture I got of the Silver Origin as we rode the Zodiac back from the plateau.  It really is a pretty ship.

We go to North Seymour tomorrow for more birds, and a different Booby.  The Origin’s Grill is offering hot rock cooking for dinner, like I had on my world cruise.  I may try that tonight.