Santiago Island

Absolutely clear skies overhead when I awoke early. However over the highlands of Santiago Island, clouds were lingering…the inversion layer obvious, also normal for this time of year.

A pre-breakfast excursion had folk going ashore at the early hour of 6:30 a.m., wet landing on a soft brown sand beach. Turtle tracks! Already? It seems early in the season, but these green sea turtles know what they are doing, and so it appears the nesting season is starting up in Galápagos. The trail at Espumilla Beach takes us around in a loop, up over fairly sharp stones and rubble, though the boulders are not big. What are big are the palo santo trees, also known as incense trees (Bursera graveolens). Here are among the largest individuals we see in the archipelago, standing head and shoulders higher than anything else around.

After breakfast we focused on getting everyone over, on or in the water in Buccaneer Bay. The kayaks were out, the glass-bottom boat was out, and even the floating spa was anchored off in a protected corner of the bay. The snorkelers of course were the only ones to really get wet. Fur seal! Sardines! Parrotfish! Surgeonfish! MANTA RAY! Just as we were almost all out of the water, the tip of the wings started appearing close by. Of COURSE we went back in! It appeared to be feeding on the rich planktonic concentration that we had noticed while snorkeling, close into the coast.

I brought along my Santa hat in order to prepare for my holiday greeting card, so don’t be too surprised by my photo!

After returning on board, I heard that kayakers had the wings of a manta ray flap against their boat, and glass-bottom boaters saw it fly underneath them through the glass! Wow!

The afternoon was interesting in many respects…by demand, Gaby gave a class on making paper beads, and quite a few turned up for this! It’s a great way to recycle paper into beautiful beads that are then used in necklaces, bracelets and zipper pulls. Jonathan gave a talk on the human history of Galápagos, being our truly “endemic” natural history staff member on board (born and bred on San Cristobal Island).

For shore excursions, we had a strong group of 17, with two naturalists, take a two-hour round-trip walk to the salt mine of Pto. Egas in James Bay. Fortunately, all returned from the “death march” (not my words!) in fine fettle. Those who chose to walk gently along the shores of James Bay got to spend time with Galápagos sea lions and fur seals. The coastline here is wonderfully wild, with deep tidal pools that drop and heave with the tidal surges, the afternoon light catching the waves and sending sparks into the sky. This is the time of year when females are giving birth to their pups. The bleating of the young mixed with the sound of the surf; occasional slurping was heard as well.

All was well by sunset, when everyone was on board and we prepared for a barbecue dinner on deck under a clear sky filled with stars!