To the northwest of Santa Cruz, and far from the inhabited part of the island, is this location with remarkable variety in both flora and fauna.
After a wet landing on the rocky terrain, we walk through a white sandy beach surrounded by black basaltic rock, and all of this combined with the greens and reds of the plants give the place an outstanding mosaic of colors. Of course, this is also inhabited by animals like sea birds, marine iguanas, lava lizards, shore birds and fish in the tide pools.
Behind the beach, we sometimes encounter a brackish water lagoon where flamingos find their favorite food: a microscopic shrimp called Artemia Salina, which in turn gives them their remarkable pink feathers. Here, they share the bounty with other birds like ducks, stilts and occasionally waders and shore birds.
A red trail due to presence of iron on the rocks takes us through a Palo Santo forest, which looks very gray at this time of the year due to lack of rain that causes the trees to lose their leaves. Finally, we reach Dragon Hill, where land iguanas can be seen at any time of the year. Large iguanas, mostly yellow in color, are the highlight of our excursion here.
After coming back on board, we get ready for the new adventure, this time snorkeling along the walls of a small island called Guy Fawkes. Here live different types of fish, sea lions, sharks and sometimes rays and turtles.
In the afternoon, we move to a different island called Eden to go on a Zodiac ride along the coast, looking for animals like birds or marine life in the mangroves growing along the shore. Turtles and baby sharks, rays and sea lion inhabit these areas.
To conclude this lovely day, we navigate around the island of Daphne Major, where science found the perfect scenario for the studies of finches over almost four decades.
With the sun setting behind the island, surrounded with birds and majestic bottle nosed dolphins, we see another fantastic day come to an end.
