Today we woke up to a beautiful sunrise on the Island of South Plaza. Because we know that the weather at this time of the year gets quite hot, we organized an excursion before breakfast, early in the morning. As soon as we landed at this little place, baby sea lions were there to welcome us and play with each other. As we continued walking up the path, we found land iguanas, which was the first time we saw them in the wild. South Plaza is one of the few places in the archipelago which was formed first underwater and eventually was uplifted by more volcanic activity. The result of all these processes is a flat place that can host many different species of birds, mammals and reptiles. The population of land iguanas we found is up to the hundreds, so we saw males, females and juveniles. Also in the middle of the trail, there was a special colony of sea lions which is comprised of bachelor or male sea lions that have lost their territories over battles.
The morning was getting warm, so we came back to the ship just in time to have breakfast, rest for a bit, and later swim off the ship to refresh our bodies and have some fun!
Later in the day we navigated to the second and final destination of the day which was the Island of Santa Fe. Here just like on the previous Island, successive underwater eruptions formed most of the island and later everything was uplifted. First thing we did was take the Zodiacs and went in the water to snorkel. Santa Fe is popular for its underwater world. Rays, sea lions, sharks, turtles and more can be found here. What a day for all who decided to go and do water activities! A few guests wanted to explore the shoreline using kayaks, and they found a couple of sea lions resting on the rocks, sea turtles resting on the surface of the water and schools of fish around their kayaks.
To finish this day which was full of a variety of experiences, we landed on the island and hiked to find the Santa Fe land iguana that is located only here, and not in big numbers. We also visited the biggest colony of sea lions, which is always fun to watch their interesting and human-like behavior.
The adventures will continue and we are ready for them!
