Day 2 of our Galapagos trip landed us on Isla Espanola at Punta Suarez. We were up at 7 am for this very special island. Richer in wildlife and a rarity we were in for a special treat. We were there for the Waved Albatros. One of the largest Albatros in the world. These birds standing easily stood at three feet. They are so large that they often incur injury landing and they can only take off from higher ground (cliff). They are beautiful birds and their size is difficult to show by camera.
Espanola was in contrast a lot more lush but still arid in its type of plant life to North Seymour. There were Blue-footed Boobies here and Frigates but this island also housed the Masked Boobie. Similar to its cousin with blue feet the pure white plumage is replaced by a brown mask over its eyes and brown on its back.
My favorite bird became the swallow-tailed gull. A grey bird with a black head. elegant in its flight. We saw more Iguana, crabs and sea-lions.
In the afternoon we moored just off a small Island named Gardner Bay. We were zodiaked out to a spot where we could snorkel. There were some great fish but the best part of it all was a colony of Galapagos Sea Lions were there and they were in a playful mood. They swam in and out of the group. Two large pups were playing a game of "Tail Splash" with Forrest. He being the kid he is was pretty good at the game to the pups delight. They would swim by fast and then swish their back flippers so that water would splash from the surface and hit him in the face. He waited for them to surface and then he would contort in the water and do the same. He was the last out of the water onto the zodiak because he kept this up for at least half an hour. he came out of the water with a big grin and the pups surfaced near the zodiak almost begging him to come back and play. i swear there could have been tears in their eyes.
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