Our expedition around this magical archipelago brought us to one of the little hidden treasure islands of the Galapagos archipelago, South Plaza Island. This small island, which is only a few hundred yards long, was once part of the ocean floor. The amount of wildlife on this paradise is amazing!
After this magical morning visit we went back to the ship to join a presentation. Naturalist Gustavo Castro talked about one of his favorite subjects, the human history of the Galapagos Islands. After the presentation we had an amusing activity: swimming and jumping off the ship!
In the early afternoon, some guests opted for kayaking along Santa Fe Island. In this remote location there is striking scenery where huge volcanic cliffs are filled with giant prickly pear cacti. Some other guests opted to go snorkeling and had a blast as waters were very calm today. Many colorful reef fish species were seen, including many rays and some few sharks. Once everyone was back onboard we put on our walking outfits to explore the trails of Santa Fe Island. The landing beach is home to many Galapagos sea lions that were the delight of their observers. The rocky inland trail led us to encounter some pale brownish green land iguanas, the famous Santa Fe land iguana (Conolophus pallidus). This latter species, as is name implies, in only found on this small island, nowhere else in the Galapagos.
We finally came back onboard with the inner feeling that we were privileged to spend a whole day in this paradise visiting two small, but meaningful, islands that showed us the beauty of life.
