Santa Cruz
Today we started our day anchored on the northeast end of Santa Cruz Island, right on the channel that separate two small rocky formations known as South and North Plazas.
South Plaza is a small colorful islet covered with a reddish succulent plant known as sesuvium that with the green of the prickly pear cacti, black of the basaltic rocks and the turquoise of the surroundings waters clears an incredible landscape. The islet holds a good size; the winds blowing from the south created an updraft current on the cliff that is used by seabirds such as swallow-tailed gulls, blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, and tropicbirds. This small islet had little diversity but interesting flora, such as prickly pears cacti with bark, succulent plants, leather leaf and thorny shrubs compound the landscape of the area. Land iguanas were all over in large numbers coexisting with sea lions, and today we had a particular encounter with a mother and pup sea lion that was nursing. Just by our presence and observation we took in their social structure, bonding between mommy and puppy.
Our captain repositions the ship as Walter, one of our naturalists, gives a talk. Aura had an entertaining activity with our young explorers. Lunch was served and we were ready for our next visit.
Kayak and snorkeling in Santa Fe was one of our highlights! Spotted eagle rays were spotted, and sea lions were along the bay, which was dominated by prickly pear cacti on the horizon. Our kayakers enjoyed turtles and sea lions and the outstanding view of Santa Fe Island. For the last activity of the day we had different paced hikes searching for land iguanas. As we went in we were greeted with Galápagos hawks in flight, snakes, lizards and a huge colony of Galápagos sea lions that were very active on the coast.
Then we went back aboard and got ready to start our next navigation to our following destination. The surprises never end in such as magical place, and there is still more to come on these enchanted Islands.
