P. De Benedetti 1964 126 Feb 15 Pta. Cevallos to Gardner (near Hood), Galapagos. about noon we sailed from here to the small island Gardner, near Hood, which took about half an hour. Saw Masked Boobies and Frigatebirds flying about and a few Blue-footed Boobies feeding. Gardner is a low, small island, about 3/4 mile E-W, 1 mile N-S. and 400-600' at the highest (SW) part. From a distance this island appears quite red. We landed in a sheltered Bay on the W side of the island, and got ashore on a nice rocky beach, from which we had to scramble up a small cliff to get to the main part of the island. Took a # of pictures here, starting with frame #31 to #37, the 1st picture showing brush and a rocky cliff. The vegetation on the W side of the island looks low and dry as on Hood, but much closer near the ground. Saw cotton here for the 1st time on the galapagos. Found it much more difficult to move around than on Hood as the low vegetation constantly gets tangled in my feet. The soil is the same soft red soil as on Hood, well mixed with small, smooth lava rocks, and in many areas this has collapsed into the space between the rocks looking much like burrows. No goats here, no large snakes. There were a number of small cliffs and rock outcrops of very rough lava overgrown to a large extent by vines of cryptocarpus. The center of the island was fairly flat, grown to low brush, with just enough mosquitoes to annoying. Only 2 really green plants, mosquitos and baytenus, and a few Opuntia trees growing