Plaza and Santa Fe Islands
This morning we disembarked on the small concrete dock at South Plaza Island, a tiny island located east of Santa Cruz Island. This small island, covered in the succulent Sesuvium mat plants which are reddish in color this time of the year, is home to the endemic land iguanas. Some populations have been almost wiped out by feral dogs in the past; however, a hugely successful captive and semi-captive breeding program run by the CDF and GNPS has allowed these endangered populations to recover. On this small islet, their territories overlap with those of the marine iguanas, and the two separate species have been known to interbreed here, and create a non-viable hybrid which can sometimes be seen during a visit.
These large reptiles are for the most part vegetarians and feed on the Opuntia cactus and other flowering plants, but occasionally when the opportunity arises they will eat carrion in order to survive. Today many of them were close to the cactus, hoping to get some of the juicy fruits or paths.
Along the top of the southern cliffs of Plaza we were able to admire soaring frigates, boobies, and in particular the lovely and graceful swallow-tailed gulls, most of them taking care of their young chicks and juveniles. Then, we arrived to the highest tip of the Island, to find a bachelor’s point of the sea lions. Here the old ones or the young ones, unable to compete with the beach masters, will rest and recover their energy.
Along the lower section of the trail we found many sea lions and lava rocks that had been polished by thousands of sea lions rubbing their bodies against turning these rocks like smooth polish marble. On one of these rocks, we had the chance to encounter an exhausted female sea lion that just had its baby, one of the treasure moments of the hike!
After lunch we dropped anchor off the island of Santa Fé, located to the south of Santa Cruz. Here we had the possibility to explore the Island kayaking, snorkelling and hiking. The sun was out and the bay was calm so our guests we were able to see many species of fish, a few rays, sea lions and to our delight, several white tipped reef sharks and a couple of sea turtles!
Once back on board and after a quick change into dry clothes, we landed in one of the white coral beaches where dozens of sea lions, males, females and young pups were enjoying the sunny afternoon, and we set off on our long hike in search of the endemic land iguana of Santa Fe. The trail took us inland, through a very dry zone where incense trees and prickly pear cactus were the predominant plants. After a while we finally reach the summit of the cliff, were we had a breathtaking view of the bay. Inside the trail we were lucky enough to find five land iguanas, a Galápagos snake, the Galápagos doves, the endemic rice rat, rare to be seen, and the always imposing Galápagos hawk.
By 6:00 p.m. we were all back from the beach and, after a lovely day, we were all ready for a hot shower!
