escapewindow | Galápagos: Sunday, October 16: Española (Reply)

[Dawn]

It's near impossible to drag me out of bed to check email and get to work. Yesterday I woke at 4:30 to fly to the Galápagos, and today I woke at 5:50 to see the dawn across the ocean. I think morning-person-ness is all in the context.

Speaking of, in the I'm-a-bit-surprised-but-it-makes-sense-really-department: at the equator, sunrise is a few minutes off of 6am; sunset is a few minutes off of 6pm, and when it sets it sets fast. And it's like that year-round. If you're looking to bask in hours and hours of sunlight, you're better off going toward the poles during the summer.

(It was overcast and there was no magnificent sunrise to be seen; I went back to bed.)

((My writing style is choppy & mixed tense & inconsistent; this is probably because I wrote the bulk of this on the ship, edited, and added more at home when prepping pictures.))

[Española]

Española is the oldest of the Galápagos islands, which are built from a volcanic hotspot in the northwest and slowly travel southeast via tectonic movement. The southeast currents hammer the island, which is slowly dying; when it's eroded below sea level, it will be gone forever.

Española is the breeding/nesting ground for albatrosses, blue-footed boobies, and sea lions.

[Deep water snorkeling]

Breakfast, then snorkel gear (L fits me for a shorty wetsuit) then deep water snorkeling. Cindy, our expedition leader, made this sound a bit daunting. (If you weren't sure about anything, you should practice off the beach, since otherwise you might be sitting in the Zodiac the whole time and ruining things for your buddy.)

But really, it was easy and fine and felt great going in -- water a bit cold but not too bad, especially with the wetsuit.

I was predictably awful with my unfamiliar underwater camera. I had some ideas of how to improve it the next time, and considered leaving it behind the next time too.

Sofia, the naturalist for the first snorkel group, swam with a real underwater video camera. She followed schools of fish closely and was fun to watch; very graceful in the water. Seems like a fun job :)

I didn't know it at the time, but the snorkeling would only get better from here.

I had a chance to go back to the beach afterwards, but I chose to shower and dress in a bit more of a relaxed fashion.

lobster carapace

[Punta Suarez]

This was a dry landing, and a 1.5-2mi hike over rocky terrain. It wasn't so hard, but a lot of the others had trouble with it or took the short route.

I loved it.

It was sea lion pup season; lots of babies and pregnant mothers.

It was also baby albatross season. Blue footed boobies, endemic mockingbirds, a Galapagos hawk, crabs, marine iguanas, frigate birds, albatrosses, yellow warblers.

We saw an albatross mating dance.

We saw a pair of blue footed boobies nesting a pebble, which they will do if they've found a good nesting site but don't have an egg yet.

(I really love this shot)

We saw a blowhole -- a narrow gap between rocks that the surf shot into and up with a burst of spray, maybe 20, 30 feet in the air.

One of the other travelers had a 500mm lens, trying to get shots of birds on the wing, but I think I held my own with my 100-400mm.

Sea lions and blue footed boobies were directly on the path a lot of the way. I kind of want to see the wet season now, but the dry season is great for fish and birds.

After dinner one of the naturalists, Fernando, talked about how to take better pictures. I knew most of it but it was good for a review, and a lot of people asked me for help.

(slideshow; lots more pics)