Anchored in Ensenada Grande or “The Big Bay”, we'd had a very good sleep after one of the most active days of our trip. The next day, far from slowing down the pace, Mike decided that what the crew needed was a good walk. After spending many days sat on our butts it was agreed, we would row ashore and climb to the top of the ridge to view the bay (a spectacular view by all accounts) and then walk the mile or so to Las Cuevartis to see the blue footed booby colony. This would be a real treat as until recently we all thought the very strange and rare blue footed booby was a bird only found in the Galapagos Islands – not so.
The mission began after landing the dinghy on the shore by scrambling up a dry creek bed to gain some height. After gaining a little altitude and viewing the bay, we tried the most direct route to the boobies, a short and ill advised traverse across a very steep and loose rock laden slope. After half an hour of slow progress and rock slides, the team decided to go for the longer route along the top of the ridge. The island itself was not blessed with an abundance of wildlife, ants, small lizards and a bunny were the only animals encountered. The vegetation was interesting with more aloe vera than Estee Lauder's bathroom cabinet and cacti the size of lampposts.
After 2 hours walking, on arriving at the booby colony, hot, thirsty and slightly traumatised, we were a little put out to find there were none there! In fact we could see the guano covered cliffs where they normally are but guessed they must be out for lunch. Not a big deal though, we'd seen them at the sea lion colony and a few days later we took Indian Summer into the bay and found them perched on those same smelly white cliffs.
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