The circle of life: Isla Espanola
Galapagos Islands, Espanola
Espanola. The name itself evokes a feeling of respect, awe, and wonder. This older island is as close to paradise as you get in the Galapagos. Its beaches are flawless, and its gentle, worn down slopes are nesting sites for hawks, boobies, albatrosses, and tortoises. Its cliff sides are that much more breathtaking, dropping down into clear blue and green watered inlets. Fur seals swam beneath us, as the Nazca Boobies and Frigate Birds flew above us. The albatross couple would clap their beaks together, and their awkward looking babies would sit and poke its head around to see everyone. We walked along this island for a few hours, watching the hawks feed their babies, and the sea lion babies chase each other around. After the walk, we went out into the waters to play with sea lions some more, and afterwards we would grab a cerveza (beer) and sit in the hot tub on board. This island was breathtaking, and evoked so much respect as many elderly entities do. The weather was warmer here and the sun was soft. We walked in shirts comfortably, and the water was not as cold to swim in. The beaches were more quiet and peaceful, and as the sun set, the sky turned into a slab of pastel colors.
Greatest Moment: Off the coast from Espanola, and directly across from Gardner Bay, sits Gardner Island. We took a speed boat to one side of the island, where we decided to fall off the edge of the boat as if we were scuba experts. We entered the water, which was clear and bright with the afternoon sun. Rays of sunshine shot through the waters and danced off shallow reefs, stretching weakly into the deep dark abyss only to get lost. Many of the sea lions sat on top of the island, looking at us unimpressed. We floated there with hope that they would join us, but when we found that the colorful fishes were the only ones to interact with, we decided to follow them and swim around the island. Above us the jagged cliff sides were nesting sites to the Tropical Bird, and we watched as their long tails streamed behind them as their pearly white bodies reached its landing. On the other side of the island, a few sea lions would humor us by hanging playfully upside down. In order to intrigue them to play, we stuck out our fins or did summer-salts under water. I remember twisting and dancing in any possible way to get their attention - which I am happy to admit happened a couple of times. They swam beside me, or we swam belly to belly. But most of the time I twisted and rolled underwater like a flailing imbecile. Above water, there was nothing but majestic views. The lava edges of Gardener island held so many birds and cacti, and in the backdrop the gentle slope of Espanola rested. The sky was growing in pinks and blues. It was an island of playful beauty.
Worst Moment: We did a three hour walk on this island, which will be hard to put into words (I am trying, so hard!). It was definitely a highlight of the entire trip, but it was also a perfect showcase of life and death. As I have said in former blogs, seeing the dead animals has not been easy, even if an accepted reality. Tears were shed as I saw an adult sea lion mourn for its dead baby, but it was a beautiful thing to see. You imagine so many of these animals dying alone, in the wild, as many do. Seeing compassion within these animals, as tragic as it was, brought me that much closer to them. Imagine a world where we do not view animals, and primarily treat animals, as different as humans. They live and die as we do, and they love, struggle, and discover just as we do. Intelligence comes through us all.
Lesson Learned: Espanola is a treasure to see. It will be under the water before all the others, because it is the oldest island. Each island start off where Ferdenandina is currently, directly over the hot spot. This hot spot is where each island is born, erupting over and over again until the island is formed. Each year, due to the tectonic plate movement, the islands begin to move away from the hot spot. As they move farther away, their volcano(s) become less active, until it is far enough to become inactive. Here the harsh environment begins to change as well, growing green with more vegetation and lagoons. Currently, there are only Isabela and Ferdenandina that are close enough to the hot spot to have active volcanoes. Santa Cruz is considered an adolescent island, and is thriving in a landscape of vegetation. Eventually all islands will continue to move over millions of years to where Espanola is, the oldest island above sea level. This island is dying, but has eroded down so beautifully, it now has the purest beaches and beautiful cliff sides that are perfect for nesting. This is where the Albatross comes to nest during their maturity, and it is also the nesting site for the Nazca Boobies. Sea lions get their best training here, as they are so far removed from other islands. Due to the tectonic shift every year, one day Espanola will be under water, and a new island will be forming over the hot spot. It is considered a geologic “conveyer belt” of islands.
Cultural Insight: We saw a tortoise on this island!! While seeing this young adult slowly walk into a bunch of bushes after seeing us, we did not understand how big a deal this was. There are wild tortoises on many different islands, however, on Espanola they were reintroduced several years back. Our guide danced so happily at seeing this tortoise, as in her 15 years of doing these cruises, she had not actually seen one on this island. This meant that the breeding programs are working, and that the tortoises are regrowing their population on their own, without predators to the eggs.
