Santiago Island
We started the day with a pre-breakfast hike along the loop trail of Playa Espumilla, which is surrounded by a forest of the tallest incense trees in the Galápagos. Suddenly, a Galápagos hawk glided just in front or our eyes as we enjoyed the landscape, and to make it even better, the raptor landed on an incense tree next to us. This was the highlight of the morning; we were looking at the hawk while the bird analyzed what kind of creatures we were. At the end of the loop we walked on a muddy surface where fiddler crabs were in abundance.
After enjoying breakfast on board, everyone was ready for kayaking, snorkeling or glass-bottom boating. The snorkeling was a great experience, as always, not only because of the marine life we saw but because of the confidence that the group felt in the water. After we had enjoyed colorful fish, marine invertebrates and a spotted eagle ray, I felt joy when a young girl happily cried “shark!” (white-tipped reef shark), because it reflects how safe Galápagos can be to allow visitors to experience wildlife without fear.
In the afternoon, Puerto Egas was our destination. We had the option to enjoy some time on a dark brown sand beach of this volcanic island. Kids were spending a playful time in the waves, while others decided to explore the sea snorkeling. Then we went for a nice hike. At a place known as “the grottoes” we found fur sea lions showing off in the water, gracefully playing with each other, as when kids play tag. Along the shoreline we saw marine iguanas, ruddy turnstones, semipalmated plovers, American oystercatchers, yellow-crowned night herons, striated herons and two sea lion pups, which were barking in a tide pool, as if asking if we had seen their moms.
As in a fairy tale, our visit ended with a rainbow in the background, and the National Geographic Endeavour was part of this marvelous frame. No doubt our day could be considered a Galápagos highlight!
