Cerro Dragon
We started our day on Cerro Dragon; this place is located on the north western realm of Santa Cruz Island. After breakfast we headed ashore and were greeted by a small group of American flamingos that were feeding on small crustaceans found in a brackish water lagoon. Along with these birds we found about four red necked phalaropes also looking for food. Today was our chance to find Galápagos land iguanas in the wild and as we walked along the trail we saw some of these unique reptiles. This is a place where the park worked intensely to eradicate introduced feral dogs that fed on the iguanas, luckily for us they were successful and these dogs were finally removed. Nowadays Galápagos land iguanas have been repatriated from the breeding center to this place. After our walk we went snorkeling and had the opportunity to find several species of sea stars, sea urchins, and lots of fish.
Later in the afternoon, we went on a Zodiac ride along the coast of an islet known as Eden, which is an extinct volcanic cone. In addition to the geology, we observed brown pelicans, sea lions, and a very large flock of more than two hundred blue-footed boobies fishing all together. Some of our guests went kayaking while our young explorers learned how to drive a Zodiac and had a lot of fun. As we left this area we headed to Daphne Major; this is a very important study site for famous Darwin finches. We had a great sunny day and as we sailed along the coast of Daphne Major we could observe magnificent frigatebirds following us and the red colors of the sunset reflected on this islet was a great way to end our day.
