Today we woke up anchored right off the coast of Santiago Island. We disembarked by wet landing at Espumilla beach and went on a photographic hike along the beach. Santiago is the island were Darwin spent nine days when he visited the Galapagos in 1832, and nowadays this place has been restored by the efforts of the Galapagos National Park Service and other international organizations, who have worked to reduce the numbers of introduced animals and recover native and endemic ecosystems.
After breakfast, we went snorkeling along the coast of Buccaneer’s Cove and encountered some white-tipped reef sharks, a couple of sea lion pups putting up quite a show for us in the water, and a large variety of fish. Some of us decided to kayak along the coastline, enjoying the stunning geology and landscapes of this middle-aged volcanic island.
After lunch, we navigated to Egas Port, where we had the chance to either go snorkeling from a black sandy beach or go hiking along the barren coast of James Island. While snorkeling, we encountered several sea turtles, a Galapagos shark, and large spots of feeding areas of tunas, brown pelicans and diving blue-footed boobies.
We came back onboard for a delightful barbecue dinner on the sun deck, and an incredible expedition ahead.
