Today we started our day in the western side of Santiago Island. After an early wake up call, we landed at Espumilla beach. This site is covered with an interesting mix of volcanic ash and tiny pieces of olivine, where we sea turtle tracks and holes made by ghost crabs. We continued through an area covered by huge Palo Santos trees, filling the fresh morning air with an incense fragrance. A couple Galapagos hawks and mockingbirds were spotted during our walk, and then we returned to the beach headed back to the Islander.
Later in the morning, we visited Buccaneer’s Cove. Here we offered different water activities: our Zodiac cruisers enjoyed views of the impressive landscape, and our snorkelers spotted surgeonfish, king angelfish, moorish idols, parrotfish, snappers, grunts, Galapagos sea lions, white tipped reef sharks, sting rays and many others species of reef fishes. The conditions today were excellent, with water visibility of over 50 feet, and water temperatures around 76F—what a great combination.
In the afternoon, we landed on the black volcanic sandy beach for a hike along the coast of James Island, otherwise known as Santiago. Here we had the chance to walk along the coast, where we found some interesting lava formations known as grottos. We had some excellent wildlife sightings, of fur seals and sea lions lying on the grottos, lots of marine iguanas, different species of shorebirds like semi palmate plovers, sanderlings, ruddy turnstones, American oyster catchers, and much more. After witnessing an incredible sunset, we headed back to the National Geographic Islander for our delicious dinner, and to rest up for tomorrow’s adventures.
