We started our day with a pre-breakfast outing on Espumilla Beach, situated on the Island of Santiago. After a wet landing, we moved further into the incense tree forest, where several species of Darwin finches were spotted. Some of us even saw a Galapagos hawk near the beach eating a sea turtle hatchling. We learned so much about the endemic flora of the archipelago and were so delighted to hike on the island where Darwin spent nine days while he was in the Galapagos.
Some of us chose to go kayaking instead, and we sure had an amazing experience with baby sea lions swimming around us, and some other sleeping on the rocks.
After breakfast, some of us went snorkeling and saw some white-tipped reef sharks and a large variety of tropical fish. The red rocky cliffs have created odd looking geological features that provide shade and shelter for the Galapagos fur seals (truly a sea lion). A Zodiac ride was also offered and while out there riding on the Zodiacs, we saw Nazca boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, and many shore birds.
After lunch, we navigated to Egas Port, a place named after a fellow called Hector Egas who established a salt mining facility on the cliffs of this calm bay. As soon as we landed, we saw the remains of the facilities of the salt mines. Our hike started on this site, by walking along the basaltic lava and tuff formations that lay along the coast line. It was low tide and many offspring of marine animals were seen in the tide pools. Several marine iguanas were basking under the sun, some just coming out of the ocean after a nice meal of green algae. The old lava tubes on this island have already collapsed, creating natural lava pools known as “the grottos”; this was a perfect habitat for the Galapagos fur seals and some other small shore birds that feed on the small crustaceans that grown in the intertidal area.
