Santiago Island
Today we dropped anchor at the northwestern part of Santiago Island. Following Charles Darwin’s footsteps we explored the same area he did back in 1835, when the H.M.S. Beagle dropped him off at this site to explore the island for nine days.
Espumilla Beach, Buccaneer’s Cove and Egas Port were our national park sites today. In order for us to show our guests the marvels of Santiago, we organized nature hikes, a Zodiac ride and deep water snorkeling.
The dramatic northwestern coast of Santiago, with giant cliffs and a reddish beach full of green sea turtle nests, was the highlight of the morning. A lot of blue footed boobies were spotted plunge diving, the water was crystal clear, and during the snorkeling we could find big schools of fish, sea lions, and a giant manta ray.
Our nature hikes were done through the native forest of incense trees, some of which were nearly thirty feet high. The fauna of Santiago is very diverse, so we were able to see most of the wildlife seen already on other islands, all concentrated along the coast of Puerto Egas. The sea lions surprised us a lot because they were very active, especially the fur seals that were found in big groups playing and jumping in the water.
There are no doubts that all of the activities today gave us some of the best chances for photographs. The light was perfect and the animals were cooperating with us; even three Galapagos hawks decided to have lunch right in front of us!
