Santa Cruz & South Plaza Islands
Our adventurer spirit took us today to a totally new area for us in the Galápagos Islands. Cerro Dragon, on Santa Cruz Island was the site which provided us with the first view of the interior of one of the islands. The trail took us among a combination of giant prickly pear cactus, palo santo trees and a whole variety of native and endemic plants. We all were eagerly looking for any type of wildlife, and we found them; finches, mockingbirds and yellow warblers became some of the interesting species added to our daily bird list, but the real excitement came with our first encounter with a land iguana. It was a huge male ¨parked¨ in the middle of the trail with no intentions of going anywhere soon. After satisfying our/his curiosity and posing for pictures, it left, probably looking for another group of guests. By the end of the walk we had counted more than twelve land iguana sightings that satisfied everyone’s need for a good picture of a land iguana! Interaction with iguanas were not restricted to simply photography, however, as one guest had her toes tasted by one, and another had an iguana race between her legs as he escaped an aggressive larger male!
The afternoon was nothing less than exciting as well. After traveling a few hours to the opposite side of Santa Cruz, we arrived at one of two tiny islands not too far from the eastern shore of Santa Cruz. South Plaza Island is well known for its incredible land iguana nesting grounds and large sea lion colony. Our disembarkation attracted the attention of many of these sea lions, which with great curiosity greeted us at the flat dock that they dominate when humans are not around. Some of us were fortunate enough to even receive a light tickle from inquisitive, young sea lion whiskers.
Encountering iguanas did not take any effort at all since they practically surrounded us along the path. The view from the southern cliff was simply gorgeous! We all were entranced with the view when we suddenly got distracted by the sighting of a Southern black-backed (Kelp) gull, Larus dominicanus, which has only been reported once in the islands fifteen years ago! It was not only interesting to see it, but we could clearly see that it was collecting nesting material, which gave us the idea that a nest could possibly be found somewhere nearby. What a lucky day, full of excitements, new discoveries and certainly new adventures.
I am so looking forward for tomorrow...
Our adventurer spirit took us today to a totally new area for us in the Galápagos Islands. Cerro Dragon, on Santa Cruz Island was the site which provided us with the first view of the interior of one of the islands. The trail took us among a combination of giant prickly pear cactus, palo santo trees and a whole variety of native and endemic plants. We all were eagerly looking for any type of wildlife, and we found them; finches, mockingbirds and yellow warblers became some of the interesting species added to our daily bird list, but the real excitement came with our first encounter with a land iguana. It was a huge male ¨parked¨ in the middle of the trail with no intentions of going anywhere soon. After satisfying our/his curiosity and posing for pictures, it left, probably looking for another group of guests. By the end of the walk we had counted more than twelve land iguana sightings that satisfied everyone’s need for a good picture of a land iguana! Interaction with iguanas were not restricted to simply photography, however, as one guest had her toes tasted by one, and another had an iguana race between her legs as he escaped an aggressive larger male!
The afternoon was nothing less than exciting as well. After traveling a few hours to the opposite side of Santa Cruz, we arrived at one of two tiny islands not too far from the eastern shore of Santa Cruz. South Plaza Island is well known for its incredible land iguana nesting grounds and large sea lion colony. Our disembarkation attracted the attention of many of these sea lions, which with great curiosity greeted us at the flat dock that they dominate when humans are not around. Some of us were fortunate enough to even receive a light tickle from inquisitive, young sea lion whiskers.
Encountering iguanas did not take any effort at all since they practically surrounded us along the path. The view from the southern cliff was simply gorgeous! We all were entranced with the view when we suddenly got distracted by the sighting of a Southern black-backed (Kelp) gull, Larus dominicanus, which has only been reported once in the islands fifteen years ago! It was not only interesting to see it, but we could clearly see that it was collecting nesting material, which gave us the idea that a nest could possibly be found somewhere nearby. What a lucky day, full of excitements, new discoveries and certainly new adventures.
I am so looking forward for tomorrow...
