Santa Cruz (Dragon Hill) and Daphne Major
We begin the day anchored on the northwest side of Santa Cruz Island. It’s 6:00am – a beautiful morning – and the adventure is about to start with a power hike to Dragon Hill, named after the enigmatic dragon-looking creatures of Chinese tales called land iguanas.
On our way to where they live we begin at a natural basalt landing that goes right along the shore where marine iguanas and other shorebirds rule and through a brackish water lagoon that hosts other forms of life very well adapted to these conditions, like greater flamingoes, ducks, stilts and sometimes birds of others latitudes that use these islands as temporary homes.
The animal life is better known than the flora, but there are some plants that manage to complete a journey of 600 miles over the barrier of ocean separating the islands from the mainland, to successfully adapt and stay; they deserve a chapter in this story. There are different kinds of cactus that land iguanas feed on, and other succulents that give this land a touch of color and also serve as refuge and food to many of the island’s animals.
Our journey continues to the land iguana hang-out; they impress us with their size and color, especially at this time of year where they show, at the same time, both aggressive and amorous displays to rival males, or to females that occasionally try to evade them by running away (not always successfully). After these sessions females will move to grounds where they dig and bury their eggs for incubation.
We come back on board to change clothes and get ready, this time for a snorkeling adventure. This means a completely different world – that of fish, sea lions, sharks and other attractive forms of life that, to our joy, were all present. Sharks are not always pleasantly accepted by most but here they are incredibly friendly, and we quickly learn that we shouldn’t fear them as much, but rather protect them more, for they are crucial to the health of the oceans.
Very happy, we come back on board for lunch and a siesta to recover from the very exciting morning. The afternoon offers a kayak session for those who want to exercise in calm, turquoise waters where animals can be seen either in the water or on rocks and trees. This makes the place called Conway Bay on Santa Cruz an attractive location.
Others decide to go on zodiac cruises along the coves fringed with mangroves that house plenty of creatures, like pelicans, frigates, iguanas and sea lions. And I have to mention that turtles are also part of this scenery, poking their heads out of the water here and there, keeping us in suspense throughout the whole excursion.
Then we are back on board, navigating towards the island of Daphne Major, known for being the scene of the evolutionary process of adaptation to climatic changes, shown by the incredible Darwin’s finches that helped the famous naturalist Charles Darwin propose the still- controversial theory of evolution, which states that all forms of life are in constant modification .
Sunset marks the end of another fantastic day in the Galápagos Islands.
