Cerro Dragon and Daphne Islets
We began our day by going ashore in the northwestern realm of Santa Cruz Island; we went looking for Galápagos land iguanas and land birds such as finches, mockingbirds and doves. We were fortunate to find some iguanas along the path. These land reptiles have to sunbathe to raise their body temperature and when that happens they become more active.
One of the important aspects about Cerro Dragon has to do with conservation. In the 1970s introduced feral dogs were spotted killing land iguanas and the National Park established a semi-captive breeding program to save them from extinction. One of the nearby islets was used for breeding and as soon as the first juveniles were obtained, the Park began to repatriate them to Cerro Dragon. Introduced dogs were also successfully removed from Cerro Dragon and iguanas had a better chance to survive and reproduce well.
After our walk we returned aboard to get our snorkeling gear and some of us went to Guy Fawkes Islet to snorkel while others went to a nearby beach.
After we returned aboard we started to navigate and found several large groups of storm petrels, shearwaters, brown noddy terns and phalaropes; it seemed as if the whole sea around us was covered by these birds.
As we approached Daphne Major Islet we encountered a large pod of bottle-nosed dolphins; these playful marine mammals followed us for some time and entertained everyone on the ship with their acrobatic behavior. We sailed around Daphne Major which is one of the most important study sites; for several years Peter and Rosemary Grant have studies finches here, and their discoveries have been some of the most important about evolution in the archipelago.
Great day in Galápagos!
