We arrived early in the morning at the next Island to explore, the fourth largest island in the archipelago, named Santiago.
At 6:30 we started at Espumilla beach with different activities from which to choose. First the kayakers went along the shore of the bay and enjoyed the amazing landscape. There is a mixture of tuff cones, lava fields, some vegetation, and today some swells along the coast.
The other two groups went ashore to either walk among some of the largest Palo Santo trees on the Islands or to walk along the beach and practice photography skills.
Espumilla is one of the main nesting sites for the Green Pacific sea turtle and we saw many nests on the beach. We laughed while trying to get photos of the shy Ghost crabs. Pelicans and Brown Noddies were fishing in front of our cameras, and finally we enjoyed the charismatic Galapagos Flycatcher who posed for us on several occasions. We could have spent the whole day there, but we came back on board for our breakfast and to get ready for our second destination of the day, Buccaneer’s cove.
The water was warming up due to the waters coming from the north and the shores at Buccaneer´s cove were covered with strong waves, so instead of snorkelling we explored by Zodiacs. We observed some amazing lava formations including The Bishop´s rock, a much eroded tuff cone that is now the shape of a bishop praying. We also observed some sea birds along the shore. We came back on board to have a refreshing swim from the National Geographic Islander.
The afternoon was spent in a place known as Puerto Egas. The shores of this area attract wildlife. Sea lions, marine iguanas, different shore birds and fur seals live in this area. We walked along the shore enjoying the amazing scenery and wildlife which all mixed with the human history of this place. (There is a salt mine here which was once used, but is no longer active). Slowly the conservation efforts are restoring the island and today we are proud of many successes: The eradication of goats, the repatriation of giant tortoises, plant studies, and more.
We came back from a full day on Santiago ready to have a good night’s sleep in order to be ready for tomorrow’s activities, but the day was not quite over. Some southern constellations were shining brightly in the sky, so we took the opportunity to learn about stars. We have definitely enjoyed every minute of the day while exploring these enchanted islands!
