The National Geographic Endeavour continued its navigation of the Galápagos marine reserve, and we had already seen so much. Leaving the land of active volcanoes behind, we headed up to the central part of the archipelago. Santiago Island was our visiting site for the entire day.
Our day began with a pre-breakfast outing to explore the beach of Espumilla, with its red sand and mangrove forest that makes this area unique. Walking in the thick vegetation, we were reminded of the journey of the first explorers and whalers who came to this area centuries ago, looking for giant tortoise and fresh water—even Charles Darwin spent nine days here, hiking and collecting species.
After breakfast, we repositioned the National Geographic Endeavour, it was only half an hour of navigation before we reached Buccaneer’s Cove. At this site, our expedition leader organized several water activities, including deep water snorkeling, kayaking and glass-bottom boat outings. Our guests were amazed with the visibility of the water and the perfect conditions for snorkeling. There was a great diversity of life underwater, including big creatures, like white-tipped reef sharks, marbled rays, and green sea turtles.
After such an eventful morning, we took it a little easier during the afternoon, enjoying some relaxing beach time, or leisurely snorkeling from the beach, followed by a nature hike to explore the coastal ecosystem of Egas Port, in James Bay. One of the most highly anticipated moments in the hike happened when we arrived to a big lava field full of Galápagos fur seals. Walking along the coast line also gave us the chance to find several shore bird species, marine iguanas, and Sally Lightfoot crabs, among others.
The grand finale happened as we were coming back to the ship in our Zodiacs from the nature hike. As a light drizzle came down, the twilight sky light up after sun set, and two wonderful rainbows appeared. We actually sailed almost right to the area where one of them began. What a wonderful ending to another day in the beautiful Galapagos.
