From the National Geographic Endeavour in Galapagos, 2/27/2013, National Geographic Endeavour

Espumilla Beach, Buccaneer Cove, Port Egas, Santiago Island

We started the day very early, disembarking to visit Espumilla Beach on a nice, warm morning. Soon after the wet landing, we had the big surprise of finding a marine turtle still digging a nest. Using all her limbs, she flapped sand in all directions. It was very rare to see a turtle doing that at this time!

During the walk, the view was beautiful from the top of the hill. The guests enjoyed the overall beach scenery that included brownish sand, a nice forest of button mangroves, and a lot of orange ghost crabs running everywhere. After the first rains in January, it is possible to see very green vegetation and listen to different kinds of land birds singing all over the place.
 
 Later everybody enjoyed the different activities in the buccaneer cove and the impressive landscape of high cliffs, tuff cones and big boulders, which were reddish in color because of iron oxide. Snorkelers and people on board the glass-bottom boat spotted many colorful parrotfish, king angelfish, yellowtail surgeonfish, damselfish, and hundreds of creole fish. We even found a couple of Moorish idols and several white-tip reef sharks swimming slowly at the bottom.

The afternoon visit was full of expectations. It was nicely cloudy and not as hot as other days. The hike began in Port Egas, where we saw a Galápagos hawk feeding on a dead pelican very close to the cliff. It was high tide and many animals were forced up to shoreline, including marine iguanas and sally lightfoot crabs, which were bright yellow and red against the wet black pahoyhoy lava rocks. We also saw great blue herons, lava herons, oystercatchers, Galápagos doves, mockingbirds, lava lizards and migratory birds, such as ruddy turnstones and semi-palmated plovers, as well as the friendly Galápagos sea lions, including many females nursing pups of different ages.

At the grottos that form the last part of the trail, many groups came together and found the fur seals very close for good pictures. But we found two more surprises. One was a Galápagos penguin resting on a rock very close to a big male fur seal. The second surprise was a pile of garbage in one grotto; the garbage had obviously drifted in from far away. My colleagues and many of the guests tried to collect as much of this garbage as possible. It was not an easy task due to the terrain and the lack of nets to catch smaller items in the water, but we did our best.

And finishing the journey, a large cloud that was raining on the highlands began to move slowly toward us. As the drizzle turned to heavy rain, everybody moved back to the landing beach in raincoats and jackets. Returning from that hike, we came across two Galápagos hawks standing on shrubs very close to the trail. This would have made for a good picture but, due to the weather, everybody was more interested in getting back to the ship as soon as possible.

Another day ends in the Galápagos archipelago, a happy day but this time very wet.
 We started the day very early, disembarking to visit Espumilla Beach on a nice, warm morning. Soon after the wet landing, we had the big surprise of finding a marine turtle still digging a nest. Using all her limbs, she flapped sand in all directions. It was very rare to see a turtle doing that at this time!

During the walk, the view was beautiful from the top of the hill. The guests enjoyed the overall beach scenery that included brownish sand, a nice forest of button mangroves, and a lot of orange ghost crabs running everywhere. After the first rains in January, it is possible to see very green vegetation and listen to different kinds of land birds singing all over the place.
 
 Later everybody enjoyed the different activities in the buccaneer cove and the impressive landscape of high cliffs, tuff cones and big boulders, which were reddish in color because of iron oxide. Snorkelers and people on board the glass-bottom boat spotted many colorful parrotfish, king angelfish, yellowtail surgeonfish, damselfish, and hundreds of creole fish. We even found a couple of Moorish idols and several white-tip reef sharks swimming slowly at the bottom.

The afternoon visit was full of expectations. It was nicely cloudy and not as hot as other days. The hike began in Port Egas, where we saw a Galápagos hawk feeding on a dead pelican very close to the cliff. It was high tide and many animals were forced up to shoreline, including marine iguanas and sally lightfoot crabs, which were bright yellow and red against the wet black pahoyhoy lava rocks. We also saw great blue herons, lava herons, oystercatchers, Galápagos doves, mockingbirds, lava lizards and migratory birds, such as ruddy turnstones and semi-palmated plovers, as well as the friendly Galápagos sea lions, including many females nursing pups of different ages.

At the grottos that form the last part of the trail, many groups came together and found the fur seals very close for good pictures. But we found two more surprises. One was a Galápagos penguin resting on a rock very close to a big male fur seal. The second surprise was a pile of garbage in one grotto; the garbage had obviously drifted in from far away. My colleagues and many of the guests tried to collect as much of this garbage as possible. It was not an easy task due to the terrain and the lack of nets to catch smaller items in the water, but we did our best.

And finishing the journey, a large cloud that was raining on the highlands began to move slowly toward us. As the drizzle turned to heavy rain, everybody moved back to the landing beach in raincoats and jackets. Returning from that hike, we came across two Galápagos hawks standing on shrubs very close to the trail. This would have made for a good picture but, due to the weather, everybody was more interested in getting back to the ship as soon as possible.

Another day ends in the Galápagos archipelago, a happy day but this time very wet.