Santa Cruz Island
We are still exploring the central part of the archipelago, and today we landed at Dragon Hill on the northwestern edge of Santa Cruz. This island is the second largest in the group of the Galápagos, and it harbors a large human settlement located on the southern side.
Being the second largest island, Santa Cruz is high and humid primarily on the southeastern flank, but at this time of year it is green due to the hot rainy season and we can find a lot of new seasonal plants as well as a diversity of life; in other words the seemingly lifeless dry islands become a jungle region glowing with life.
Dragon Hill is the destination for our exploration this morning; it is a very special place due to the presence of large land iguanas nesting on the loose volcanic ash forested with cacti trees and the new seasonal grass.
Many years ago the land iguanas nearly became extinct due to the presence of alien species such as feral dogs that killed many of them as well as cats, goats and donkeys, whose harmful effects were either direct predation or competition over food. Today the Galápagos National Park is successfully working in the complete restoration of these islands.
Today we explored the place and we enjoyed a long walk. We saw many large male land iguanas showing a beautiful yellow color typical of the mating season.
In the afternoon we repositioned the National Geographic Polaris and visited Chinese Hat and the eastern side of Santiago Island, which happens to be one of the best snorkelling sites. From the time we jumped in, we encountered ourselves surrounded by large schools of reef fish and as we explored the underwater realm we had more surprises and first hand encounters with white tipped reef sharks!!! But the icing on the cake was the flock of Galápagos penguins we swam with.
Just amazing! I can’t wait to see more!
We are still exploring the central part of the archipelago, and today we landed at Dragon Hill on the northwestern edge of Santa Cruz. This island is the second largest in the group of the Galápagos, and it harbors a large human settlement located on the southern side.
Being the second largest island, Santa Cruz is high and humid primarily on the southeastern flank, but at this time of year it is green due to the hot rainy season and we can find a lot of new seasonal plants as well as a diversity of life; in other words the seemingly lifeless dry islands become a jungle region glowing with life.
Dragon Hill is the destination for our exploration this morning; it is a very special place due to the presence of large land iguanas nesting on the loose volcanic ash forested with cacti trees and the new seasonal grass.
Many years ago the land iguanas nearly became extinct due to the presence of alien species such as feral dogs that killed many of them as well as cats, goats and donkeys, whose harmful effects were either direct predation or competition over food. Today the Galápagos National Park is successfully working in the complete restoration of these islands.
Today we explored the place and we enjoyed a long walk. We saw many large male land iguanas showing a beautiful yellow color typical of the mating season.
In the afternoon we repositioned the National Geographic Polaris and visited Chinese Hat and the eastern side of Santiago Island, which happens to be one of the best snorkelling sites. From the time we jumped in, we encountered ourselves surrounded by large schools of reef fish and as we explored the underwater realm we had more surprises and first hand encounters with white tipped reef sharks!!! But the icing on the cake was the flock of Galápagos penguins we swam with.
Just amazing! I can’t wait to see more!
