Today we are visiting the northern most visitor site in the Galapagos. An extraordinary island known as Genovesa. Some of us woke up early to a pre breakfast kayaking outing along the cliffs on this island. Birds of all sorts were spotted while kayaking; some of us got to spot a few red footed boobies and red billed tropic birds flying around the area.
After breakfast, we got ready for a wet landing to walk along the sandy trails of Darwin bay on this same island. The highlight of today was to see red footed boobies nesting on the red mangroves, most chicks were already grown yet depending on their parents. This is known as sea birds island, there are at least three hundred thousand birds nesting on Genovesa.
The morning hike was an extraordinary opportunity for photography, as well as bids watching. A white sandy beach with some pieces of coral head still breaking down and large colonies of birds flying overhead. After the hike, some of us came back to the ship and suited up for snorkeling along the cliffs of Genovesa. A couple of Galapagos fur seals were spotted, as well as a large variety of fish including the very colorful Moorish idols.
After lunch we had a dry landing on Prince Phillippe steps to explore the birds life on the cliffs on Genovesa. The terrine was all solid lava rocks mostly flat, all established by a dense incense tree forest where some red footed boobies nest. A couple of Galapagos doves were spotted looking for seeds among the dry grasses. Our goal this afternoon was to look for the allusive short eared owl found on at this visitor site and we surely got successful with our sightings, some of us saw several owls perched on the rusty lava flows on Tower.
After a wonderful hike with nice afternoon light and unique wildlife all around us, we were delighted to finish our Galapagos expedition with incredible memories of the land which inspired young naturalists like Darwin to see the world thought the eyes of science.
