We left the city of Puerto Ayora to explore the uninhabited side of Santa Cruz, where two satellite un-contiguous islets are situated. Eventually the outline of two small satellite uplifted islands shows up; such is the case of North and South Plazas islands. We decided to go ashore after breakfast and explore the only visitor site on the small island of South Plaza, and as soon as we got there the place was full of land iguanas everywhere we looked. Cactus finches were pecking on the prickly pears in search of water.
This is one of the natural habitats of one out of the three species of land iguanas found in the Galapagos Archipelago. What is interesting about the population found on this island is the crossbreeding behavior that they show when they enter mating season and they find themselves face to face with marine iguanas. In this case, land iguanas and marine iguanas mate and the result is a non-fertile hybrid with a shorter lifespan than its parents. We were lucky to spot one of these hybrids while here. Life on these islands struggle for its own existence most of the time, so the forest of giant prickly pears are the main natural source of water for all the organisms here.
At the beginning of the path we were able to spot a short-eared owl a few feet away from us, making this an amazing moment for photography, since they don’t always get this close. Right next to the iguana there was another rare sighting, in this case a land iguana eating a Galapagos shearwater, which is a rare behavior that in some cases happens within this vegetarian-opportunistic feeder iguana.
We left the island of South Plaza to navigate towards Santa Fe Island. As soon as we dropped anchor, we went out snorkeling around a much-protected bay of the coast of this island. During snorkeling we saw some sea turtles, a few spotted eagle rays, an octopus, a white-tipped reef shark and a wide variety of fish. Some guests went out kayaking while the rest were snorkeling. Later on we went on land to search for the endemic land iguana of Santa Fe (Conolophus Pallidus). This is a rare specimen that camouflages very well with the colors of the dry grasses and the brown soil on this island. We were lucky to find around seven individuals. The Galapagos hawk was flying within the area and as a great finale we saw a big school of eagle rays as a farewell committee along our Zodiac ride back to our mother ship.
