The morning is very warm and the sea is very calm, here on the north side of Santa Cruz Island. The landscape is green and gray; it has been raining for the last few weeks, and bit by bit the islands are turning green, which is common during the hot-rainy season.
It is 8:00 am when we disembark to visit Dragon Hill, a magical place due to the contrast of the colors along its coast: black lava mixed with small white sand beaches, green-purple sesuvium shrubs and very green salt bushes decorate the shore, and several brackish water lagoons reflect all those colors of the vegetation in their waters. A few yards inland, gray Palo Santo trees make the contrasts even more vivid. Along the shoreline, we find several pelicans and blue-footed boobies. At the intertidal zone, a solitary striated heron waits for tiny fish in the pools, and above the sand dunes, a couple of marine iguanas are mating to ensure the endurance of the species in this very dramatic environment, where survival is the main goal every day for animals and plants alike.
A large colony of land iguanas are living around Dragon Hill. Yellow in color, with pronounced crests on their backs, these reptiles look like little dinosaurs or komodo dragons. We are very lucky, a couple of them walk right up to us and start to feed on the very first grass and plants growing on this arid place. Mockingbirds and finches sing happily from the trees, providing a beautiful soundtrack as we walk along the trails, taking pictures and observing the unique wildlife that inhabit this astonishing archipelago.
Later in the morning, we have a chance to snorkel around a couple of very small islets in the bay. The visibility of the water is excellent, and the temperature is lovely, very warm. We encounter many type of fish, but the highlight are sharks, lobsters and a lonesome penguin that has been living here for the past few years. After our water activities, we come back onboard to enjoy a traditional Ecuadorian lunch, allowing our guest to sample the gastronomy of our country.
In the afternoon, we motor around in search of cetaceans or whales, and finally we arrive to Daphne Major. This is a very old tuff cone which is famous thanks to Peter Grant, who is a very well-known scientist that is following in the steps of Charles Darwin, about studies of the adaptation of finches and their evolution in isolated places. Daphne is home of several sea birds, such as Nazca boobies, sea gulls, frigatebirds and others. We circumnavigate it until the sun falls below the horizon, and the moon and stars appear. We enjoy wine tasting on the deck of the National Geographic Islander, and toast to another great day on this expedition of discovery.
