Tower Island

I woke up early so decided to wake Addey for an early morning stretch class that she had been wanting to do with me. After breakfast, we boarded the zodiacs for Darwin Bay trail. Genovesa is pretty incredible with more birds than you can imagine, soaring and walking all around, without any fear of humans. Here is where we got to see red footed boobies (and their chicks!) along with beautiful red-billed tropic birds, swallow tail gulls, frigate birds and the endemic Nazca boobies, among others. After our walk, we stayed at the small beach there and watched the kids play. I took pictures of the striking and plentiful Sally light-foot crabs and a few sea lions joined us in the beach. On our way back to the boat we got to see some fur seals resting in the rocks of the island.
Our afternoon excursion was to Prince Phillip's Steps where, after a 90 foot climb, we took a 1.2 mile hike around the plateau that is Genovesa. More incredible bird watching and photography and we were fortunate to find several hunting owls.
We came back to the boat and started packing. 😔 We had a farewell toast and get together in the lounge before dinner. The kids got prizes for the points they had collected in their expedition journals - a Nat Geo hat and buff (balaclava). A bunch of people spoke about how special the trip has been - really kind people, kids got along very well and excellent guides and staff. It went way too fast as all good trips do!
We had a short photo presentation after dinner presenting photos from whoever wanted to upload 5-7 of their own photos and many from Jonathan our photographer naturalist. Jace was very excited to have his pictures in the slide show and, in particular, got a beautiful picture of a Sally light-foot crab.
Early sleep tonight for another early rise tomorrow...Read more