Cerro Dragon and Eden Islet, 1/4/2017, National Geographic Endeavour II
Aboard the
National Geographic Endeavour II
Galápagos
We were visiting Santa Cruz Island for a second time and spent the morning at the northern part of the Island, the visitor site is known as Cerro Dragon. During the hike we got to see Galapagos marine iguanas, a greater flamingo, common stilts and Galapagos land iguanas. After this, we got ready for snorkeling at the bigger Islet of Guy Fawkes, where we saw big school of colorful fish and a big male sea lion was playing with the guests, an amazing experience! During the afternoon we enjoyed a Zodiac ride around Eden Islet, as well as kayaking and Zodiac driving lessons for our young explorers!
Lourdes was born and raised on Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos Archipelago and comes from a large family that settled in the Galápagos from mainland Ecuador in the 1930s. Since she was a child, she has always been fascinated with nature and sports...
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Today we had an optional early wet landing at Cormorant Point’s visitor site, searching for flamingoes and turtles. We also had a fun opportunity to see a few sea lions, Sally Lightfoot crabs and many birds. Back on board for breakfast, we repositioned to our snorkeling site. Today’s underwater wildlife was surreal. Sea lions, fish of all kinds and colors, turtles, sharks, rays, scorpion fish, lobster, eels, and more were encountered. We are currently experiencing the changing seasons and the wildlife is mating, for warmer water will incubate the eggs. We boarded National Geographic Endeavour II for a delicious Mexican lunch as we repositioned again for our visit to the world-famous Post-Office Bay. Before we disembarked, we enjoyed the Darwin presentation given by Naturalist Celso Montalvo. Today we exchanged post cards left from previous visitors to have them hand-delivered, just like the ones our guests are leaving behind. Some of us further explored the bay, opting for kayaking, snorkeling, or enjoying a pleasant walk along the beach. We ended the day with our recap and briefing about our next destination. We are now deeply united with this magical feeling of love, coexistence, and respect for one another as the result of exploring this special place, the Galapagos Islands.
Today we arrived at Española, the oldest island of the archipelago, in the southeastern realm of Galapagos. We started our activities early in the morning with snorkeling; some guests opted for deep-water snorkeling, to enjoy the deep blue with amazing marine wildlife at Gardner Islet, while others chose to snorkel from the beach. We finished our morning activities with a visit to Gardner Bay, to enjoy its coralline, stunningly soft white sand beach and turquoise waters. Later in the afternoon, we headed to Punta Suarez. There our guests enjoyed the presence of lots of sea lions playing at the coast. We also saw marine iguanas, gathering in large groups over old lava boulders for warmth. We observed many different birds as well, including blue-footed boobies, nesting Nazca boobies, and the Galapagos hawk. It was an amazing first full day in Galapagos!
Today was the final day of exploration on our cruise around the Galapagos Islands. We dropped anchor by breakfast time at Punta Pitt, the northern part of San Cristobal. Here we walked around an old tuff cone to find a new species of bird for our guests, the red-footed booby. These seabirds are tree nesters, and they are found in a handful of places in the archipelago. To the surprise of everyone we had some rain in the middle of the hike; we returned to the beach and enjoyed some time there. In the afternoon the ship moved to Cerro Brujo for our final outing of the voyage. Here our guests had their last swimming opportunity in the crystal-clear waters with three-foot waves. To end the day we moved to Kicker Rock, for a circumnavigation of the most famous islet in Galapagos, to enjoy some champagne and celebrate life.
