Today we anchored and hiked at Espumilla Bay in the island of Santiago. At seven o’clock in the morning our explorers were ready to disembark and enjoy a memorable hike. We first met some fresh meat and some large bones, being cleaned by a juvenile Galapagos hawk. At first, we doubted about the origin of the flesh, but it was big. Goat or human remains. Since goats were eradicated by Lindblad contributions in 2005, the other choice was terrifying. Soon a skinny scientist appeared and explained to our horrified guests that it was in fact a goat, and that she was doing a census. It was a great relief!
Laughing and making all sorts of jokes, our groups ended this hike with lots of pictures and smiling faces. Back on board we had an energizing breakfast while the ship moved position and later on we had incredible snorkeling and Zodiac rides along the cliffs of Buccaneer’s Cove.
In the afternoon following lunch, our guests had the opportunity to buy souvenirs and handcrafts from our Global Gallery and then, listen carefully to Antonio’s talk about Darwin.
Later on, it was time to disembark again, but this time at a different location, known as Puerto Egas. This site offers great opportunities to walk at the intertidal area, searching for marine invertebrates, marine iguanas, various species of shore birds, and of course sea lions and our Galapagos fur seals at the lava grottos.
The weather was very pleasant and perfect to a nice and relaxing nature walk. Our guests enjoyed so much not only the wildlife but also the landscape, sounds, and colors of nature.
At sunset it was time to come back, enjoy some drinks at the sky deck and then join our recap hour, where naturalist Enrique had the chance to show some of his underwater footage and photo instructor Antonio gave more photography tips to our guests.
Dinner tonight was a BBQ and later on we had the chance to dance and enjoy some salsa music. Guests were all happy and ready to treasure this moment forever.
