Thursday was the highlight of our trip to the coast. We visited Isla de la Plata aka the Poor Man’s Galapagos. It shares a number of species with the Galapagos, though it is much closer to the mainland. In fact, the island’s history is much different. It broke off from the mainland tens of thousands of years ago, while the Galapagos are volcanic in origin. This creates much different evolutionary history of plants and animals on each.
On our hike across the island (we took the escalera path), we first came across blue-footed boobies! It was so cool to see them in the wild again. We learned that the blueness of their feet corresponds to their age. The older ones have bluer feet because they’ve eaten more sardines.
Next, we saw Nazga (or masked) boobies. It was interesting to see them so close to blue-footed boobies. Also, while we were watching them, a tropic bird flew overhead. The tropic bird has a long distinctive tail and is so beautiful.
Frigatebirds were next. Sadly, only a couple of males had their guller sacks inflated. Nevertheless, it was amazing to have hundreds of frigates flying over my head.
Then, we saw red-footed boobies. Yes, three species of boobies in one day on one island! It was incredible. There even were some babies which looked like giant white puff balls in the nest.
We thought we were done and had seen a lot, but then on the way back to the shore, we saw three quite small hummingbirds, the smallest hummingbirds on earth! That was a great way to end our hike.
When we returned to the boat, we traveled a bit down the coast of the island and then got to snorkel. We saw a number of beautiful colorful fish, including a parrot fish. Also, there was some alive puff coral and a starfish. However, the water was decently chilly, so we didn’t stay in for too long.
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