We woke up to a wonderful day of exploration in the historical visitor site known as Buccaneer’s Cove. Long ago, seafarers rested and gave maintenance to their small barges and vessels here. Today the ocean was calm, and we had perfect conditions for deep-water snorkeling around the coast of Santiago. We spotted a few white-tip reef sharks, Galapagos sea lions, and a large variety of fish. Some of us went on a Zodiac ride in search of Nazca boobies, brown noddy terns, and swallow-tailed gulls. Others went kayaking along Buccaneer’s Cove, photographing the extraordinary rusty-red colored cliffs and eroded cinder cones.
After lunch we had a wet landing on a black sandy beach. We were lucky to have a young Galapagos fur seal come up to us, investigate our presence, then go back to its mother and start nursing. We walked far into the island scouting for wildlife within tide pools left behind at low tide and found a few striated herons feeding on Sally Lightfoot crabs, great blue herons fishing around the shoreline, and a couple of Galapagos hawks flying above.
As we returned to National Geographic Islander, we had an amazing golden sunset. What a wonderful way to end our day on Santiago Island!
