Morning Swim with Sea Lions

Today we are exploring Espanola (Hood) Island was named in honor of Spain. It also is known as Hood, after Viscount Samuel Hood. It has an area of 23 square miles and a maximum altitude of 676 ft.

Española is the oldest island at around 3.5 million years, and the southernmost in the group. Due to its remote location, Española has a large number of endemic species. It has its own species of lava lizard, mockingbird, and tortoise. Española's marine iguanas exhibit a distinctive red coloration change during the breeding season. Española is the only place where the waved albatross nests. Some of the birds have attempted to breed on Genovesa (Tower) Island, but unsuccessfully. Española's steep cliffs serve as the perfect runways for these birds, which take off for their ocean feeding grounds near the mainland of Ecuador and Peru.

Española has two visitor sites. Gardner Bay is a swimming and snorkeling site, and offers a great beach. Punta Suarez has migrant, resident, and endemic wildlife, including brightly colored marine iguanas,


Española lava lizards,


hood mockingbirds


swallow-tailed gulls, blue-footed boobies,


Nazca boobies,


red-billed tropicbirds, Galapagos hawks, 3 species of Darwin's finches, and the waved albatross


This morning we woke up anchored in Gardner Bay


and spent the morning snorkeling along a sharp cliff face in 20 to 30 feet of very cold water, about 70 degrees. The day is windy and overcast which made the water feel all that much colder. The area is thick with fish because of strong, upwelling currents that carry nutrients up from the deep. The cold was shocking when we first dove in but we quickly acclimated when we started seeing large schools of fish and feeding sea lions. The sea lions were curious and playful which made them hard to photograph. I soon learned to forget trying still photos and switched to videos. I don't think I'll be winning any Oscars but I was able to get several good shots of the sea lions. Oops, it appears I need to set up a YouTube account to publish videos. Maybe later. The boat is rolling so severely now that it is hard to type.

After snorkeling we visited the beach to warm up.



After lunch, we motored to Punta Suarez and walked a few miles across the island. As you can see, Espanola is loaded with wildlife. Because of the lack of predators, the animals, from sea lions, birds, iguanas, or even lava lizards have no fear. It would be easy to pick up any wild life by hand. In several places it was difficult to avoid stepping on nesting birds, iguanas, or sea lions.


Time for cocktails. More later.

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Location:Espanola, Galapagos