Santiago Island
This island has become our adopted island for over a decade now. When the Galápagos National Park was created, they realized they had to do something to save the endemic flora and fauna of Galápagos before it was too late. With scientific advice from the Charles Darwin Station and the support of Lindblad Expeditions, this project has been a great success.
Santiago Island was affected by many introduced species, some of them very devastating for this fragile ecosystem. After more than a decade, the success is amazing; most of the problems are gone, and this morning during a pre-breakfast visit, we witnessed this great success. We are just hoping that in the near future, the giant tortoises from Santiago will be everywhere like they were before the human impact.
To continue our day we sailed for over an hour and this time we were in a place known as Buccaneer’s Cove. This bay is a perfect place for water activities such as glass-bottom boating, kayaking, Zodiac-riding and deep-water snorkeling. Our guests got to do as many of these options as they wished.
We also visited Egas Port, which was inhabited back in the 1960s by a family from Quito, who tried to establish a salt mine. The business didn’t succeed and they had to abandon it, leaving behind old vestiges of their attempt at colonization. This visitor site provides a great snorkeling and hiking opportunity for everyone. After an hour in the water with rays, turtles, sharks, sea lions and lots of fish, we started our hike along the coast; this place is considered to be the best to observe the second species of sea lion found in Galápagos and for tidal pool exploration as well.
The number of species sighted today was so large, it’s hard to name them all; blue-footed boobies, frigatebirds, Galápagos sea lions and Galápagos fur sea lions, finches, mockingbirds, hawks, American oystercatchers, warblers and many other great sightings will stay in our memories forever.
