April 28 – Isla Genovesa

After a long bumpy cruise through the night, we arrived at Isla Genovesa - the only island we heard referred to by its British name, Tower Island.

On the panga ride across the flooded crater of Darwin Bay, we spied tropic birds in flight, a marine iguana on the rocks, sea lions and lots more frigate birds, the pirates of the air, stealing nesting material from other birds in midair.

Bob & Laura with Boobies

We climbed Prince Philips' steps to a 2½ hour walk along a cliff plateau and began to appreciate just how inured to people the Galapagos wildlife is. We literally had to walk around birds on the trail.

Male frigate bird

The frigate birds were engaged in nest building with the males displaying their inflated throat sacs to entice the females. Two kinds of frigates nest on the salt bush of Isla Genovesa: Great Frigates (♂ full white chest, ♀ green sheen on back) and Majestic Frigates (♂ v-shape white chest, ♀ purple sheen on back).

Nazca booby

Red-Footed booby

We also encountered two types of boobies: Nazca Booby identified by their spectacles nesting on the ground and Red-Footed Booby identified by their red feet (duh!) nesting in the trees.

As we crested the crater rim and approached the other side of the island hundreds of storm petrels swooped overhead. We experienced the frustration of attempting to capture the amazing phenomenon using our cameras. Most of us just gave up and "enjoyed the moment."

Yellow Crown Night Heron

We also encountered the Galapagos dove, Galapagos mockingbird, a yellow-crowned night heron and, in a lava cave, a short-eared owl that hunts the petrels.

Back to the Beagle for a quick change, then it was snorkeling off the panga near a cliff edge. We spotted surgeon fish, blue juvenile damsel fish, yellow puffer fish, larval copepod, parrot fish and hawkfish.

Cactus flower

As we landed for our afternoon hike on the other side of Darwin Bay, we spotted eagle rays, white tip reef sharks and a snowflake moray eel.

We circled around a scrub area of nesting / competing / displaying frigate birds. Along a lava cliff, the red-footed boobies were nesting in "apartment buildings" up the cliff face together with swallow-tail gulls and yellow-crowned night herons.

Sea lion pup feeding

On a protected beach, the sea lions were hauled out with their pups. They completely ignored us as one pup enjoyed a bit of lunch from mom.

A long night's cruising southward across the equator brought us next to Isla Santiago.