Genovesa Island is a shield volcano in the east of Galapagos. Part of the wall of the main caldera has collapsed so that it is now possible to sail into the caldera. There are very few caldera like this. By an odd coincidence, one of the others is at Deception Island off the Antarctic peninsula. We had been there at the beginning of November. The only other navigable caldera in the world, that I know of, is Santorini in Greece.
What makes Genovesa unique is the concentration of birdlife there. Frigatebirds, red-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, storm petrels, tropicbirds, Darwin’s finches, and Galápagos mockingbirds. Thousands of them. Great clouds of birds in the air and the ground seems to be covered in birds either resting or nesting.
Access is very tightly controlled here. Especially since a recent outbreak of bird flu. Only a few people are allowed to land at any one time and you are only allowed a short time, two hours I think, ashore. We started off with a RHIB cruise along the cliff edges of the caldera. There are no historical records of volcanic activity at Genovesa but the are some young lava flows. The cliffs were full of nesting birds. In enjoyed watching the rather exotic looking, red-billed tropicbirds popping in and out of holes in the rock. There were also herons, pelicans and a few sea lions.
To get onto the island, there is a very steep wooden staircase running up inside a crack of the caldera wall. It is not dangerous, but definitely an interesting way of getting onto the island. I spent a while at the top of the steps photographing the tropicbirds. These are normally solitary creatures but I think it must be that time of year when they stop being solitary for a while. Pairs and small groups were creating a terrific display swooping around in formation.
The steps led to a rocky plateau with many bushes and more birds than I have ever seen in one place. Great flocks of terns were flying along the shore interspersed with a few larger birds. The bushes seemed to be full of birds. Mostly boobies. Red and blue footed plus a few Nazca boobies. Some of them were nesting and we spotted a few chicks and youngsters.
In carefully shepherded small groups we walked across the plateau towards the far shore. We could not get anywhere close to where the terns were fishing. A short walk parallel to the shore and then back to the steps via a slightly different route. Everywhere there were birds and more birds. In the air, on the floor, in bushes and sat on rocks. None of them seemed especially nervous of humans although we were under strict instructions not to approach them. In places they were sat on the marked track so we had to carefully step around them.
Back at the steps, we clambered into the RHIB and were taken to a small beach area. We could walk around a little here. People were also allowed to snorkel and swim if they had the inclination. We stayed out of the water but did explore inland a little. More boobies, herons and sea lions.
I took an awful lot of photographs. Possibly my personal record for number of pictures in one day. Less than a thousand, but not by much. They are not all here. What you get here is the result of several hours inspecting and deleting. Then comes cropping and occasionally a bit of colour manipulation. Mostly I just stick to changing the exposure on some or all of the image. Back in the days of celluloid film we used to do this using carboard shapes on a stick to mask part of the final print while it was being exposed under the enlarger. A technique called dodging and burning. These days it is just messing on the computer.
This was the last day of our Galapagos trip. Quite a spectacular day to end with. Overall, the trip has been terrific. The Galapagos is a fascinating place with a completely unique population of flora and fauna. The Hx vessel, the Santa Cruz II, was nice as well. Life there was a little regimented but the crew were friendly and the food was excellent. Next morning we were up early for the flight to Guayaquil.
