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Visit Isla Espaola: Punta Suarez and Gardener Bay | Celebrity Cruises

The southernmost island in the Galapagos chain, Española is home to several species that can’t be found outside of the Galapagos, including the Española mockingbird and the Española lava lizard. Española Island is also famous as it is the only place the waved albatross breeds and nests. Like its feathered brethren the blue-footed booby, the waved albatross engages in an unusual courtship dance, this one involving a sequence of bows, honks, and beak clacking. The females lay only one egg, and parenting duties are shared with the males. Once they hatch, the fuzzy chicks stay together in nurseries eagerly awaiting their parents’ return from hunting. Later in the year, they’ll shed their down and start to stretch their wings. Lucky visitors may get to see a young albatross take off for his first flight—many of them for the very first time in December or January. The young albatrosses stay at sea for about five years before returning to Española to mate.

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Artie Phelan

Update: 2024-04-23