Floreana Island - Dancing with Whales!
The day showed hints that something spectacular was going to happen. Whilst riding around Champion Island on the glass bottom boat, a brief sighting of a whale shark was reported. Apart from that, the close encounters with the brown noddies, red-billed tropicbirds and then the rare Charles mocking bird made our Audubon birders quite trigger-happy with their expensive cameras and lenses. It was to be a day of closeness!
After an interesting talk on sea bird conservation by our guest lecturer, we embarked on our afternoon's excursion at Punta Cormorant. A flamingo graced some of us with its presence as it came to within six feet of our quiet guests. On the beach, we were surprised at the close proximity of a sanderling. Being coastal migrants, they're usually aware of predator problems from the mainland. Today we got to within a record four feet from the little sandpiper.
As we headed back to on board, we were all ready to partake in a sunset cocktail over Floreana. The last three groups, however, didn't realize that the afternoon was only just beginning! Whale spouts were spotted from the distance. It wasn't the usual blow with the next one coming after five minutes. There were about 2-3 blows every few seconds, showing that the whales were on the surface and there were a lot of them. As we approached, dolphins bow-rode, as if to guide us to our destination. Sure enough, we were able to reach a point where we could switch off the motor, and listen to the peaceful blows of about four whales all around us, with the excited dolphins were filling in the gaps. The sun was down by now. The sky was red and darkening. With the dolphins and whales still all around us, we headed back on board the Polaris after the true end to our day. Magic!
The day showed hints that something spectacular was going to happen. Whilst riding around Champion Island on the glass bottom boat, a brief sighting of a whale shark was reported. Apart from that, the close encounters with the brown noddies, red-billed tropicbirds and then the rare Charles mocking bird made our Audubon birders quite trigger-happy with their expensive cameras and lenses. It was to be a day of closeness!
After an interesting talk on sea bird conservation by our guest lecturer, we embarked on our afternoon's excursion at Punta Cormorant. A flamingo graced some of us with its presence as it came to within six feet of our quiet guests. On the beach, we were surprised at the close proximity of a sanderling. Being coastal migrants, they're usually aware of predator problems from the mainland. Today we got to within a record four feet from the little sandpiper.
As we headed back to on board, we were all ready to partake in a sunset cocktail over Floreana. The last three groups, however, didn't realize that the afternoon was only just beginning! Whale spouts were spotted from the distance. It wasn't the usual blow with the next one coming after five minutes. There were about 2-3 blows every few seconds, showing that the whales were on the surface and there were a lot of them. As we approached, dolphins bow-rode, as if to guide us to our destination. Sure enough, we were able to reach a point where we could switch off the motor, and listen to the peaceful blows of about four whales all around us, with the excited dolphins were filling in the gaps. The sun was down by now. The sky was red and darkening. With the dolphins and whales still all around us, we headed back on board the Polaris after the true end to our day. Magic!
