South Plazas and Santa Fe Islands
A brand new day found us in front of one of the little hidden treasure islands of the Galápagos archipelago, South Plaza Island. This small island which is only some few hundred yards long was once part of the ocean floor. The amount of wildlife on this paradise is surprising. A stunning marine landscape dominated by a cacti forest surrounded by a surreal red carpet where colorful Galápagos land iguanas (Conolophus subcristatus) were seen roaming free everywhere. Several iguanas were observed while eating the spiny but juicy cacti pads. Something remarkable is the presence of countless burrows that are used by land iguanas to “thermo regulate.” Reptiles cannot sweat therefore they have to use external mechanisms to regulate their body temperature. In simple words, these ant-diluvian looking creatures are cold blooded meaning that they have to control their body temperature using the burrows — either to warm-up in the heat outside their shelters when cool or going inside to reduce their body temperature from the rough hot conditions typical of the dry locations where they live. There are several Galápagos sea lions colonies as well. Some big individuals were seen searching for the best position for napping while some juveniles were seen either exploring or playing in the surroundings.
In this place there is a spectacular cliff side as well where many seabird species can be observed. Once we arrived to the highest point to walk along the cliff, we found the best site to watch seabirds in action, frigate birds were seen harassing Red-billed tropic birds for stealing their food, Galápagos shearwaters were skimming the ocean surface looking for food, Blue and Nazca boobies were also gliding along the cliffs plunge diving for food as well. Swallow tailed gulls were seen either flying around or taking care of their hungry youngsters as well. Occasionally, frigate birds were seen trying to steal food from the passing by gulls and boobies.
After this magical morning visit we went back to the ship to join a great talk with Naturalist Jeffo Marquez about the “Human History of the Galápagos Islands.” After lunch we had some down time before starting the afternoon’s activities. Soon after, it was time to get ready for kayaking outside Santa Fe Island. In this remote location there is striking scenery where huge volcanic cliffs are filed with giant prickly pear cacti making this location an almost perfect setting for this activity. Some other guests opted to go snorkeling and they had a blast as well for waters were very calm today and many colorful reef fish species were seen. Juvenile sea lions were true stars today. It was hilarious to see them nipping guests’ fins while snorkeling.
Immediately after, once everybody came back onboard we put on our walking outfits to explore the trails of Santa Fe Island. The landing beach is home for many Galápagos sea lions that were the delight of their observers. The rocky inland trail took us to encounter some few pale brownish green land iguanas the famous Santa Fe land iguana (Conolophus pallidus). This latter species, as is name implies is only found on this small island and nowhere else in the Galápagos.
We finally came back onboard with the inner feeling that we were privileged to spend a whole day in this paradise visiting two small but meaningful islands that showed us the beauty of life.
