South Plaza
Today the morning was cloudy and it looked that is going to be that way all day. The island was waiting for our group of the explorers, and everybody was lining up at the reception area excited to go.
The landscape of South Plaza is unique. The sesuvium covering the slopes makes such a pretty site. As soon as we landed the Galápagos iguanas got the attention of our explorers who were all asking what the bird nesting next to them was. They were swallow-tailed gulls, which seemed to be quiet today, and soon we noticed why—there were baby chicks and eggs that they were incubating.
We continued the visit along the rocky area of the path and there was a lot of the coastal vegetation decorating the walk. The Darwin finches were hoping to find a rich environment where they can find all what they need to thrive.
Before too long we reached the bachelor sea lion colony and everybody was surprised by how agile these mammals could be. The view was fantastic and birds were all over the cliffs of the island; this is one of the best areas for bird watching. There were as many birds as we expected and the place more than fulfilled our expectations. South Plaza once more delighted our explorers who returned to the National Geographic Islander commenting on how nice the stop on this island is.
Santa Fe
After lunch we prepared to go exploring in the shallow water bay of the island of Santa Fe. Yes, all explorers got their snorkeling gear to enjoy the waters of this beautifully colored bay. The tropical fish and the green sea turtles were everywhere—what a fantastic aquatic expedition! We returned to the boat to find even more on the agenda.
The explorers were ready to disembark at Santa Fe, where the sandy beaches was so full of sea lions there was almost no place to set a foot on the beach, but here we were ready to go for a walk expecting to see what this island had to offer to us.
The walk was nice and long we had great views of the best of this place. The rice rats endemic to the island were here, a couple of snakes crossed the path while we walked, and we hoped to see the green land iguanas.
The view was just amazing once we got to top of the hill, and the smell of the vegetation here was strong but nice. It is a much different landscape than what we are used to.
In the late afternoon and we had to return to the boat before it got dark—another exceptional expedition day is what we had.
