We arrived at Santiago Island today. Before breakfast, we disembarked on the shore at Espumilla Beach, located on the west coast of the island. After a smooth wet landing, we strolled along the beach looking for wildlife and photo opportunities. We found fresh Pacific green sea turtle nests, Galapagos hawks, American oystercatchers, fishing blue-footed boobies, Pacific brown pelicans, and the invisible ghost crab. The beautiful mangrove forest that extends along the beach offered us a great show. After breakfast, National Geographic Islander repositioned herself less than a mile to the north, in an area known as Buccaneer’s Cove. Once anchored, we set out on our Zodiacs to explore the shoreline from the water. Sightseeing and snorkelling were our activities in the area
After lunch, Puerto Egas was our next destination, which is a long-time abandoned human settlement, formerly a salt mine. Our afternoon was spent on the beach swimming and sun bathing, and later, we took a long hike along the shoreline of Puerto Egas. This would turn out to be an excellent opportunity to see Galapagos fur sea lions among other new species. Darwin finches, Galapagos mockingbirds, and yellow warbles were abundant along the contour of these beautiful shores. As the sun set over the large volcanoes of Isabela to the west, we made our way back home with smiles on our faces, thinking about the delicious barbecue dinner ahead of us. It was another day in paradise…
