Close Encounters of the Interspecies Kind

June 21, 2002

Welcome to Episode 4 of The Adventures of Yumiko and Eden in Galápagos… 

Sea lions bodysurf alongside the panga as it pulls up to the rocky landing site at Punta Suárez. A Galápagos hawk and several Española-variety marine iguanas observe our intrepid heroines as they jump ashore.

Española, home of the critically endangered waved albatross, is not on every Galápagos itinerary. Located at the extreme southeast of the archipelago, the island is a 10- to 12-hour boat ride from Isla Santa Cruz, the Mistral’s previous (and not all that interesting) stop.

Wrinkling their noses at the stench of sea lions, Eden and Miko make their way along the trail. Blue-footed boobies, those comical-looking perennial favorites, honk and whistle. (To hear the blue-footed booby, click here.)

Bolivar leads the group to a cliff.

“This is the ‘Albatross Airport,’” he explains. “Thanks to their enormous 7-8 foot wingspan, albatrosses can soar for hours and can travel great distances, but they need some help getting airborne.”

One after another, these ungainly-looking birds – the largest in Galápagos – use the steep cliff as a runway and take flight. In the air they are graceful, agile, and adept.

But as engrossing as the waved albatrosses’ take-off tactics are, their lengthy and elaborate courtship rituals – a complex series of repeated, orchestrated displays involving bill-fencing, sway-walking, sky-pointing, gaping, preening, and bill-circling – are even more so.

Eden has to be dragged away from the spectacle at the nesting area and back to the Mistral. She broods through breakfast, sulks through putting on her wetsuit, and scowls through the panga ride to a snorkel site well offshore.

She stops pouting the moment she enters the water and finds herself right in the middle of a giant school of pompanos and surrounded by more than a dozen sea turtles. Hammerhead sharks and spotted eagle rays are visible in the blue depths.

Eden and Yumiko are grinning when they emerge. They smile through a much-needed shower, laugh through lunch, and beam through the panga ride to the afternoon’s landing site.

Gardner Bay Beach is awash in sunning sea lions. Most of the Mistral’s passengers set towels down wherever there is space and simply relax among them. Eden takes photographs while Miko keeps an eye out for protective mother sea lions that might chase an unsuspecting photographer down the beach (as occurred on day two, when Eden got too close to a pup).

Our fearless females watch in amusement when a sea lion ambles over to where Jake, a redheaded Homo sapiens, is catching some rays.

“Wha…?!” Jake yelps, scrambling to his feet as the sea lion takes over his blanket.

This latest interspecies encounter strikes our heroines as a particularly apt end to their expedition to the Enchanted Isles.

“Only in Galápagos,” Eden says, digging her toes into the white sand and shaking her head. “Man, I love this place!”

© Eden Feuer