Santa Cruz Island: Dragon Hill and Eden
After visiting the highlands and the giant tortoises, today we sailed northwest to explore another face of Santa Cruz Island, the second largest of the enchanted archipelago. With a brilliant sun and soft breeze we went on a hike to find the dinosaur-looking Galápagos land iguanas in their natural habitat, this time at a visitor site named Dragon Hill.
We walked along the white beach observing blue-footed boobies in a feeding frenzy and marine iguanas exposing their bodies and warming up with the first beams of sun. We were very lucky to find six greater flamingos feeding in the coastal lagoon behind the beach; they walked indifferently, feeding on small crustaceans from the muddy bottom. Some white-cheeked pintails ducks and black-necked stilts were the delight of our guests.
Walking inland, we crossed through an incense tree forest; their branches had no leaves, making them a perfect habitat for species of land birds such as mockingbirds, finches and doves. The terrain looked dusty and soft, perfect for the land iguanas and giant tortoises to build their nests; we found several iguanas basking along the path and some others feeding on the cacti pads. For many years this enigmatic creature suffered depredation from introduced animals, but thanks to the effort made by the National Park, they were eradicated and the population of these reptiles is healthy enough to self-sustain their numbers in the wild with great results and percentages of survival.
After hiking, our guests headed towards the Guy Fawkes Islets to snorkel along their vertical walls, observing a colorful underwater world, with invertebrates, fish and sea lions.
In the afternoon, the National Geographic Endeavour was repositioned to Eden Islet at the west of Santa Cruz. Riding Zodiacs, we observed another face of the island, with incredible white sandy beaches, mangroves and colorful landscapes. We approached the rocks and in the shallows sea turtles showed us their unmistakable heads, disappearing underwater after taking a deep breath. We observed pelicans nesting on the top of the mangrove trees and among their long roots, lava herons hunted fish, while in the water baby sharks swam rapidly, chasing their food.
It was late, and just before the sunset, we circumnavigated around Daphne Major Islet, the enigmatic place where years ago a group of scientists studied the Galápagos finches according to Darwin’s evolutionary theory. Its conical formation and the round caldera made us imagine the volcanism of this place millions of years ago while the sunset, with its last beams, told us this beautiful day was over.
