The National Geographic Islander dropped the anchor at South Plaza Island, just before the sunrise; our plan for the morning was to explore this small island by foot, to be able to get close encounters with the endemic wildlife. South Plaza is situated off the coast of the eastern side of Santa Cruz, and is formed from uplifted marine lava.
Immediately after landing we started to see a lot of land iguanas. They did not seem to be bothered by our presence, and they continued sunbathing in the middle of the trail and on cacti. Our walk took place along a rocky trail. The sun was high and the heat began to set in, but fortunately we had a nice breeze that made our visit more pleasant. All of our guests were amazed by this Island, because apart of having a lot of wildlife, we also got the chance to walk along a cliff section with an incredible view. Shortly after the morning’s walk, we had an opportunity to go swimming right off of the ship!
In the afternoon, the ship arrived to Santa Fé Island, a perfect place to do some aquatic activities such as kayaking and deep water snorkeling. The conditions in the water were wonderful, with calm seas, good visibility and nice temperature. Big schools of fish, sea turtles, and sea lions were seen during deep water snorkeling, and our kayakers enjoyed the volcanic landscape and lots of sea birds in flight. It was a wonderful afternoon, all around!
Later in the afternoon, we walked through one of the largest colonies of sea lions in the archipelago—there were easily a few hundred on two separate white sandy beaches. We accomplished our goal of the day, which was to find the elusive Santa Fe land iguana, endemic only to this island; several big males were spotted feeding near the trail, and all of our guests were amazed and took many pictures. Another fabulous day in the Galapagos!
