Wednesday, May 23

From EcuadorWiki

"Frigate Isle"

On the second to last day we were on the Galapagos Islands we went to Española, or commonly known as Hood Island This is ironic because my group name was the Frigates, and this happened to be the island to see them.

We all got up bright and early to the sound of our stewardess calling for breakfast. To some like me this was a great wake-up call, but to others the rocking of the ship the previous night seemed to make the thought of food a little unbearable. After morning chow we were called to the depatrure bay according to our group names, and it was off to the island of the Frigates!

As we walked around, we saw many Blue-Footed Boobies, Frigates Albatros' and of course....Seals. In one case we saw a Blue-Footed Boobie doing a mating dance to attract a female mate. I tell you what....If i were a bird, I would have gone for it!

Afterwards we walked to a cliff and saw how the Albatros' landed and took off. It was very different! They are such a big bird they need a large patch of ground clear of trees and rocks to land on (like a runway), and they need a cliff to jump off of to get the airspeed needed to take off.

Overlooking the same cliff that the Albatros' were taking off from, we could see a unique formation in the rocks below that caused the water to jet upwards like a whale's blow-hole. Needless to say they call it the "blowhole". It was a hot day that day because there was not a lot of wind and a lot of us wanted to go snorkling but we didn't have the time. We had on schedule to go see the famouse land tortoises.

When we retuned to the ship everyone was tired. Most of us went to our cabins and changed and then enjoyed a nice Galapagueñen meal of chicken or fish, a variety of veggies and of course...rice.