Santa Fe Island
Today we had a great time.
Today was iguana day because we saw two of the three species of land iguanas that live in Galápagos: Conolophus subcristatus, or Galápagos land iguana, lives in South Plaza and Conolophus pallidus, or Santa Fe land iguana, which is endemic or unique to Santa Fe Island.
South Plaza is a small islet full of life! Land iguanas of course, but we saw as well many lava lizards and sea lions during our visit in the morning; the winds blowing from the south are very well appreciated by seabirds such as swallow-tailed gulls, blue-footed bobbies, frigate birds, and tropicbirds. This small Santa Cruz satellite island had a small diversity and striking flora, prickly pears with trucks and succulent plants like portulaca randomly placed by Mother Nature for us to admire. All colors were on display like yellows, reds, and greens among this black and red lava rock. 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, bounding between mommy and puppy.
Our captain repositions the ship as Pato, our naturalist, gives a talk. Xavier had an entertaining activity with our young explorers and I had a deep photo conversation and instructions for our guests. Lunch was served and we were ready for our next visit.
Kayak and snorkeling in Santa Fe was one of our highlights! Rays were spotted, and sea turtles were the stars! Our kayakers enjoyed turtles and sea lions with outstanding views. To close our day we had different paced hikes searching for land iguanas. As we went in we were greeted with a short ear owl, snakes, and we also found the cutest rat in the world, Santa Fe’s rice rat.
Back onboard and ready to start our next navigation to our following destination. Our voyage has reached its peak and I know the best is yet to come.
Wish you were here my dear reader, searching for an adventure, a journey of discovery on an expedition in one of the best places on earth, the Galapagos Islands.
