Today we explored the Island of Santa Cruz in the central realm of Galapagos. We started with the northwestern region of Santa Cruz, where we looked for Galapagos land iguanas in their natural habitat. As we landed we encountered their cousins, the Galapagos marine iguanas. The males were very busy courting and chasing females in their territories. In a nearby lagoon we encountered one of the most beautiful birds in the archipelago: the greater flamingo. We found a small group of six flamingoes looking for food as well as white-cheeked pintail ducks, black-necked stilts, and least sand pipers. As we walked along the trail we reached Dragon Hill; here we found several males and females Galapagos land iguanas in their territories. The males especially are very colorful and large while females tend to have a rather dark color and are smaller than the males.
After this invigorating walk we returned aboard to get ready to go snorkeling in deep waters or go to a gorgeous small beach near Dragon Hill. In both places we saw fish of different species, and some of our guests were also surprised to see a white-tipped reef shark swimming peacefully along the coast.
As we returned, we navigated towards the Eden area where we went kayaking and also on a Zodiac ride along the coast of Santa Cruz and Eden Islet. Later in the day we sailed to Daphne Major Islet which is a very important study site for Darwin finches as well as the home for several species of sea birds.
We had a lovely day in Galapagos!
