Tuesday 12th April

So up at 6 we had breakfast at 6.30 then we had to get on the panga to Espanola Island; One of the most beautiful of all the Galapagos islands. Espanola is the most southerly in the archipelago.

Our first stop was Punta Suraez; on the western end of the island. When we arrived there was a very dominant male sea lion that would not let us pass so we had to climb the rocks around him! We did a rocky 2km trail for about 2 hours that took us through blue-footed booby colonies. (despite their name, boobies are graceful seabirds, they feed on fish by plunge-diving from a great heights. During courtship it picks up its bright blue feet in a slow, dignified fashion and continues with bowing, wing-spreading and sky-pointing in an enchanting clownish display) saw sea lions, hawks, waved albatross' (the waved albatross is the only albatross species that breeds at the equator. These huge birds are graceful fliers. With an average weight of 5kg and a wingspan of up to 2.5m, this is the largest bird in the archipelago. They are masters of the wind but helpless in calm weather. During courtship pairs perform a mesmerizing display of bowing, bill clicking, bill circling, swaying and freezing, honking and whistling -which we were lucky enough to see!!) and loads of marine iguanas (the worlds only seagoing lizard, they feed by grazing on seaweed underwater; young and females feed close inshore but males have been recorded at depths of up to 12m and can remain submerged for over an hour) The iguanas were breeding at the time so we saw them digging holes to nest in we also saw a hawk swoop down and eat an egg!

We then got back on the panga and back to the boat to have lunch and sail to Gardner Bay. Here we snorkelled but there were 100's of jellyfish and I gave up and got back in the panga as the current was too strong I was trying to swim but wasn't getting anywhere!

After snorkelling we had some free time on the beach. It was a beautiful beach with pure white sand and clear turquoise water, there were also 100's of sea lions chilling on the beach. 

We headed back on board, the captain decided that we would set sail early so we weren't sailing through the night. Joe and I ended up skipping dinner as the boat was so rough there was no way we could sit in the dining area! Someone from our group gave Joe some seasickness patches that you wear behind the ear he put one on straight away but they take 12 hours to kick in and can be worn for 3 days. 

We tried to stay up to go to bed once the boat had anchored but tiredness got too much. We both managed to sleep all night! Joe probably because he was so dosed up on seasickness medication!