Santa Cruz Island
Last night we navigated from the southern end of Santa Cruz Island to its north eastern corner. So this morning we began our day by going ashore to explore Cerro Dragon to look for Galápagos land iguanas.
As we landed on the island we walked over volcanic terrain and just a few yards we found our first land iguana that was sunbathing. We also noticed some yellow flowers on the prickly pear cactus which are not always seen.
One of the surprises this morning was to find a couple of greater flamingoes actively feeding on brine shrimp. This couple was bright pink and looked quite unconcerned of our presence and walked for several minutes in front of our cameras. Due to their small numbers we do not always get to see them, so it was very special for us to have this couple with us.
We walked through a dormant Palo Santo forest all the way to the base of Dragon Hill where we looked for land iguanas as well as land birds and great landscapes.
After this walk we returned aboard to get ready to go out once more; this time we went snorkeling around a group of nearby islets known as Guy Fawkes where we saw different species of fish as well as marine invertebrates found along the walls.
After we returned aboard we had our typical Ecuadorian lunch while we navigated a little further west. This afternoon we took our Zodiacs out for a ride along the coast of Santa Cruz on an area known as Eden. We found some juvenile black tipped sharks, rays, green sea turtles, pelicans and some shore birds. We had great weather and after we left this location we headed towards Daphne Major which is one of the most important study sites in the archipelago, as Darwin finches have been extensively studied on this islet.
After circumnavigating around Daphne Major we began to navigate to Bartolomé Island where we will go tomorrow morning. We all had an incredible day on Santa Cruz Island with great sightings, good weather conditions and different activities for everyone.
