We left behind the western Galapagos and we moved back to the east to visit Santiago, one of the largest and beautiful islands of the archipelago. Well known as “James” by ancient whalers and pirates, Santiago offers a great variety of places to be visited that can captivate and produce an inspiring experience.
Early in the morning we started our first activity, visiting Espumilla Beach, the dark sand of which is used by sea turtles for nesting. Of course, we found many tracks left by that incredible creature capable of swimming thousands of miles away and then coming back to the same place to lay eggs. We headed into a beautiful mature palo santo forest, where we had time to identify Darwin finches and get a good close look at a Galapagos hawk. The lush vegetation was no impediment to enjoy the view from a small hill, observing the small lagoon just behind the black beach and the sinuosity of the island as showing us it volcanism and eruptions which occurred a long time ago. After breakfast the adventure continued with kayaking and snorkeling along crystalline waters, where a symphony of colors was displayed by many different kinds of tropical fishes, sting rays, and playful sea lions.
As soon as we came back, National Geographic Endeavour pulled anchored and repositioned to our next destination, Puerto Egas. This area was named in honor of the Egas brothers from Guayaquil city, who installed a salt factory, which extracted the salt from an ancient crater and sent it back to the mainland. It’s still possible to observe the remains, left as mute witnesses of the last attempt to colonize this island. After that, Santiago Island remained with no inhabitants.
In the afternoon we disembarked on a hot and black sandy beach and observed some Galapagos sea lions resting indifferently while our guests tried to take some photos of them. Farther into the trail that leaded to the seashore, land birds fluttered among the branches of trees, singing and standing close to us with no fear. This included a curious Galapagos fly catcher, which landed on the camera of one of our guests. Once we reached the grottos at the farthest point of the trail, we witnessed a colony of fur sea lions that made the crevices and fissures their living place. Along the crystalline and turquoise waters, sea turtles and colorful fish were the perfect complement of this unique place. Afterwards we walked along the coastal zone, and the landscape changed dramatically with spectacular tidal pools with marine iguanas inside warming their bodies. Close to the sea, shorebirds like American oystercatchers, herons, whimbrels, and sanderlings were the delight of our guests.
Along the west, Isabela Island looked spectacular and it was possible to observe Fernandina Island as well. A soft mist covered the hills while a soft rain moistened the dusty terrain. We heard in the distance the call of some birds as telling us the day was over. We left Puerto Egas behind, tired but happy and with the best of memories that will remain in our minds forever.
