Cerro Dragon and Daphne Major
Early this morning we dropped anchor at the northwestern corner of Santa Cruz Island. We came here to explore one of the last places on this island where there are Galápagos land iguanas. Today we were very lucky and found several iguanas on the path or nearby it; there were a few females and at least two were next to breeding males. The mating season is synchronized with the warm wet season; therefore the young will have enough food supply by the time they are born.
We also found a lonely flamingo actively feeding on brine shrimp in a small pond. The entire place was full of Galápagos sulphur butterflies and also a few blue butterflies; their gorgeous colors brought more life to the lush green vegetation of the coast.
After the walk around Cerro Dragon we headed back on board and then went snorkeling around Guy Fawkes islets. This morning we saw several species of fish, along with colorful sea stars, sponges and also had the company of a curious Galápagos sea lion that stayed playing around us for a long time.
This afternoon we encountered a pod of common dolphins and their acrobatic jumps amazed us as we observed them for a while. Later in the day we sailed around Daphne Major Islet, one of the most important study sites in Galápagos. A very well-known scientist couple, Peter and Rosemary Grant, have studied finches for about four decades; their discoveries have been of a great importance, especially about the evolution of Darwin’s finches. We finished our day with a great sunset around Daphne Islet.
