Today we spent the entire day visiting James Island. The fourth largest of the Galápagos, James or Santiago, also known as San Salvador, has a verdant highland region and sources of fresh water from the rain. Because of this, the island was used by some of the very first human (and some non-human) visitors to Galápagos. A dramatic island of many colors and habitats, together with all of the beautiful geological features created by the tuff (compacted volcanic ash) eroded over years. Santiago Island shows evidence of having had volcanic activity in its recent past as demonstrated by the long stretches of black basalt lava cliffs from 1897, well seen from the coast of our landing site!
We started our day by having a wet landing before breakfast at Espumilla Beach, on the western coast of Santiago Island. The beach is one of the archipelago’s most important marine turtle nesting areas, so many nests were spotted along the dry sand underneath mangroves where the tide doesn’t reach. Just behind the mangroves, a small lagoon is hidden in the lava which may occasionally have lagoon birds such as black-necked stilts and pintail ducks. But today, we were even luckier than our usual visits to this place, we found a greater flamingo feeding on small shrimp (artemia salina) and other small algae and microorganisms inhabiting this coastal lagoon.
Once back at the beach, we returned to the ship for breakfast. After breakfast, we devoted our time to exploring the historical and scenic Buccaneer Cove, a one-time pirate haunt as well as the area where Charles Darwin landed for his longest stint on land in Galápagos. He spent a total of five weeks in Galápagos, which included 19 days on land, of which nine were spent on Santiago. Our options will include a deep-water snorkeling excursion and a Zodiac ride along the coastline.
This afternoon we will travel to another visitor site on the same island, anchoring at Puerto Egas. Here, after a wet landing in an area of many coastal birds, we found marine iguanas, sea lions and even a small colony of fur seals in dramatic, deeply carved sea-level grottos. It was a rainy afternoon but that didn’t stop us from exploring this breathtaking visitor site!
