We had a smooth navigation from Santa Cruz Island to South Plaza. Early in the morning the National Geographic Islander is anchored at the northern coastal line of North Plaza, and the explorers on board are ready to disembark after breakfast. We have a dry landing at the jetty of the island of South Plaza, an area full of baby sea lions. Females should be ready to breed soon, which is why once we disembark we see some beach masters around. The beach masters are the dominant sea lion male candidates to reproduce this season. After we walk a few meters inland we arrive to a cactus area where we see the first Galapagos land iguanas, which happen to be the main attraction on this island for their wild condition. We continue along the path to get to a higher area and there is an impressive view of the landscape the island offers, in addition to the wonderful bird watching all along the cliff of this island. There are Galapagos shearwaters, red billed tropicbirds, frigates, and boobies making this walk great fun. Further on the cliff we arrive to the bachelor sea lion area and we use the stop to rest a bit and talk about these sea lions that are so far away from the ocean. Then we continue to the landing site where the Zodiacs wait for us to return to the ship.
The afternoon activities start with explorers that want to go kayaking along the cliff of the island of Santa Fe. The conditions were fantastic: no wind, no current and the explorers were having a great time. Back on board we have the group organized to go snorkeling off the Zodiac in a place we know is always good for this activity. After these aquatic activities we are all back to get ready for the land excursion. One group is going for a long hike at a faster pace and the other group is going on a slower paced and shorter walk.
The island is fantastic, the dry landscaping with the giant prickly pear and the scalesia helleri is incredible. We found the Santa Fe land iguana and the Galapagos mockingbird. The walk has been fantastic, everybody is happy after this fantastic day and now we are heading back to landing site to return to the ship and once we are there talk about tomorrow’s program. We know it is going to be another great expedition.
