Today's dawn wake up call came in the form of a humpback whale calf, repeatedly breaching off our port bow along the cliff face of Punta Albatross, Espanola Island. The energetic three to four ton baby would hurl itself clear of the water, then splash down alongside its forty-ton, forty-foot mother, whose stately blows lingered in the fresh morning air.
The display triggered memories of similar humpback acrobatics I've witnessed elsewhere in the world, as this endangered, cosmopolitan creature occurs throughout much of the global ocean. It's interesting to note, however, that unlike humpback populations in other parts of the world, the humpback whales that are sighted in the Galapagos have not been extensively studied, and their movements and habits within the archipelago are not well described.
This is still true of much of the marine environment of the Galapagos. These beautiful islands, home to an incredible array of unique terrestrial creatures, is a natural microcosm in which to better understand selective forces at work in nature, and much of the land life has been researched in depth.
We spent the remainder of the magic morning ashore on Punta Suarez, where we were privileged to stroll amidst lolling Galapagos sea lions, nesting blue-footed and Nazca boobies, waved albatross and marine iguanas, all reliant on the sea for survival. Here, as everywhere on our blue planet, land and sea are inextricably joined.
It is essential that the vital marine environment of the Galapagos Islands be further explored, described and protected, so that the fragile connections binding together all of the exquisite inhabitants of this magnificent global treasure will be preserved in perpetuity.
