Today we started our day on the western side of Santiago Island. After an early wake up call, we landed at Espumilla beach. It is a place covered with an interesting mix of volcanic ash and tiny pieces of olivine where we spotted tracks made by sea turtles and holes made by ghost crabs. We also saw off shore many blue footed boobies plunge diving in an amazing feeding frenzy. After a relaxing beach walk we returned on board for a well-deserved breakfast.
Later on in the morning we visited Buccaneer’s cove. Here we had different activities such as Zodiac cruise to enjoy the impressive landscape and later went snorkeling. While snorkeling we spotted surgeon fish, king angel fish, Moorish idols, parrot fish, snappers, grunts, Galapagos sea lions, white tipped reef sharks, sting rays and many others species of reef fish. The water visibility was over 50 feet and water temperature around 72F-what a great combination!
In the afternoon we landed on the black volcanic sandy beach for a hike along the coast of James, Santiago Island. Here we had the chance to walk along the coast where we found some interesting lava formations known as grottos. Fur seals and sea lions were lying on them and we witnessed different species of shore birds such as semi palmate plovers, whimbrels, ruddy turnstones, lots of marine iguanas, American oyster catchers, and much more. After witnessing an incredible sunset we headed back to the National Geographic Islander.
