Finally. It’s exploring time.
Over the night we sailed to Genovesa Island, which it the northern most island of our cruise. With the number of passengers, the guides divided us into two groups that swap hikes in the morning and afternoon. My group got the Darwin Bay nature walk for the morning. It was a “wet landing”, meaning that after we entered the Zodiacs on the ship and drove to the beach, we got out in the surf and thus got our feet and legs wet.
And we were immediately met by the laziest sea lions I have ever met. Which calls for a quick note: During my Kenya and South Africa safari the guides informed us how the animals have become acclimated to the 4-wheel drive vehicles. So long as you stay in the car everything is good. Sometime the predators even jump on top of the car to use its height to help scan for prey. In the Galapagos the animals are even more laid back. You can literally walk within inches of an animal and they won’t care. They’ve never learned to fear humans. Nutty.
So, there were four sea lions just sunning themselves as we drove the Zodiac onto the beach. They never even blinked. Then one decided to show off its yoga moves.
We were then introduced to the Swallow-Tailed Gull. Zillions of them. Many of our guides called this “Bird Island”, and it was easy to see why. It is the tail-end of mating season, so we were able to see many chicks being protected around their nests. Most of the birds just nested right on the ground. The red rings around the eyes means it’s still mating season.
We quickly found the gull’s neighbors, the Red-Footed Booby. As in barely a few meters away. Seems these are the only Boobies that nest in trees. Our guide said they are terrible nest engineers, really just a simple pile of twigs, but they’re in trees. To support living in trees they are the only Boobies that have feet that can grasp branches.
Yet another neighbor to all is the Frigatebird. More specifically, the Great Frigatebird. Not to be confused with the Magnificent Frigatebird, which we’ll see in the coming days. Whoever named these liked Frigatebirds. Like the other birds it was still mating season, so we got to see what the Frigatebirds are famous for…
We returned to the Zodiac via the ocean front and spied some Sally Lightfoot crabs and Marine Iguana. The guide said the crabs were named after a famous 1930s dancer. The iguana are unique how they make their living in the ocean, whereas most iguana stay on land. They expel the salt in the salt water by sneezing it out.
From there we returned to the boat for lunch. The afternoon hike was more difficult. See you next time!
