Our morning started with a pre-breakfast outing, with a dry landing on Espumilla Beach, situated on the northeast side the coast of Santiago. Along the beach, we spotted a couple of Pacific green sea turtles nesting and plenty of turtle tracks along the sandy coast. Some of us hiked deeper onto the island, while others chose to go on a photography walk along the beach.
After breakfast, we had a Zodiac ride along Buccaneer’s cove, getting the chance to spot swallow tailed gulls, blue footed boobies, brown pelicans, a couple of hammerhead sharks and Galapagos sharks on the surface of the ocean. Some of us opted for going snorkeling while others went kayaking. A couple of white tipped reef sharks were spotted during the snorkeling outing, as well as a large variety of rocky reef fish.
After lunch we navigated to Egas Port and had a dry landing followed by a hike along the coast of Santiago. The low tide had exposed several tide pools full of incredible creatures and we witnessed intriguing interactions between predators and prey. We spotted several migratory birds (ruddy turnstones and semi-palmated plovers) as well as several marine iguanas feeding on the algae, exposed by the low tide. Those who decided to stay at the beach went snorkeling with reef sharks, eagle rays and sea lions.
We were lucky to have a beautiful, golden sunset which lent itself perfectly to stunning photographs.
