This morning before breakfast we planned several activities. The day was cloudy and a little rainy, however that did not stop us from going kayaking with a group while two other groups visited “Espumilla Beach”. The kayaking area has an amazing landscape and is part of the famous Buccaneer’s Cove, which was a well know place for pirates three centuries ago. Here pirates used to repair their vessels, get water and collect tortoises to take them on board their boats and use them as food during their long journeys. The cove has a beach and next to it huge cliffs that easily reach 150 feet. The area also has very interesting lava formations. One looks a like a “huge praying monk statue” and rises to 50 feet high and the other, a little smaller, looks like an elephant.

The beach of “Espumilla” is a one mile, golden fine sandy area and all along this place there are many mangrove trees where brown pelicans build their nests later in the year. Along the beach there are hundreds of ghost crabs which hide very quickly when they see something move near them. We found a couple of blue footed boobies diving closer to the shore and a family of oystercatchers.

After breakfast some of us snorkeled and others went on a Zodiac ride and enjoyed the landscape of the cove. During snorkeling we explored a very interesting cave where we found lots of creole fish and as we continued along the shore we found a really large marble sting ray and some playful sea lions.

In the afternoon, after a wet landing on a black beach, we visited Egas Port, also known as James Bay. The volcanic formations by the beach are quite beautiful and we saw a mother sea lion nursing her baby pup. The place has a trail along the beach and at the end of it there are more spectacular lava formations, known as “grottos”. This lava features looks like natural swimming pools and inside the pools we saw fur sea lions. This is one of the few places in the Galapagos where we can get a closer look at this other species of sea lion.

At the end of the afternoon we came back to the National Geographic Islander to enjoy some cocktails and the peaceful sea surrounding us.