Galapagos 2018 Day Six - Espanola Island


wounded sea lion baby


Today again dawned bright and sunny and we were off again to a beach for a walk and a snorkel.  

By now we were old hands at seeking the wonderful sea lions - so engaging.  And the babies – oh my goodness always so cute with their eyes looking huge in their heads.


I am cute and I like having fun
We were less prepared though for the sight of this little guy.  He was curled up high on the beach away from the water and the other sea lions.  If you look closely his back flipper appears to have been seriously wounded.  The guides say that this is most likely the result of a shark attack and that he has dragged himself up here to die.  It must have been recent because otherwise he looks quite healthy.  Nature of course but particularly sad when they are babies. 


Contrast this with another wide eyed baby rolling around in the sand and looking for all the world to be having a grand old time.



Snorkeling was again wonderful with the water clearer here than in the rougher areas.  We got to see a huge stingray (at least 4 feet across and a wonderful manta ray slowly making its way across our path.  











As we were entering the water a sea lion swam right through our group startling us a bit.





After lunch we headed to another area on the island for a hike getting to choose between the ‘Long Difficult Rocky Walk’ and the ‘Short Difficult Rocky Walk’.  Yup – those were the names on the days itinerary.  We opted for the short one!




And they were not kidding with the descriptions.  Here is an example of the actual path.  There was an older couple with us who struggled with the uneven ground, but kudos for effort.  Frankly we were happy that they were with us because their slower pace suited our attempts to watch longer and take more photos on the walk.






Here we wended our way along the coast with the cliffs falling away to the sea.  Many, many Nazca boobies were nesting in this area and there were chicks of all sizes from full sized (but still covered with downy feathers) to just hatched and pretty naked.  
It was amazing !!  
Even got to see the very early stages of chick production (yup – bird porn).

Big and fluffy chick






Mostly naked chick - must be very new

































Also on this island were mocking birds which were attracted to our bottles of water.  The guides warned us not to give them any – no interference at all is allowed – so no food, and no water.    Like so many of the animals in the Galapagos the mocking bird species on Espanola is unique.  There are four different types of mocking birds in the Galapagos and apparently the one on Espanola is considered the most predatory.

It was very interesting though.  The birds would land close or even on someone and look intently at the water bottle.  (Our provided water bottles were clear).  Sometimes they would even tap on it.  This fellow was with our group (an American airline pilot) and the birds seemed enchanted with his water bottle in particular.  No idea why.





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