Our expedition in the Galápagos aboard National Geographic Endeavour goes on. Today we explored the northwestern side of Santa Cruz and also circumnavigated Daphne Major Islet.
After breakfast all guests landed at Dragon Hill for a hike that took us along a rocky trail, connected to an eroded tuff cone. Along the way we entered through the coastal and arid zones that happen to have a great diversity of endemic flora and fauna. Exploring a coastal ecosystem we came across a few little tidal pools that were full of marine life, and a brackish water lagoon with a solitary greater flamingo became an ideal place for photography. The morning’s walk gave us also the chance to see a lot of land iguanas which were actively moving near us.
Later in the morning we headed up to another eroded tuff cone located in open sea, off the coast of Dragon hill, to do deep water snorkeling. Crystal clear waters allowed us to have a show of the Galápagos underwater world. A lot of fish and sea lions were seen during snorkeling, and a solitary penguin showed up at the rocky shore and stayed for a long time very close to all snorkelers.
In the afternoon, we explored the northern coast of Santa Cruz and Eden Islet via a Zodiac ride and found a lot of sea bird species as well as some marine species such as baby sharks and sea turtles. We ended our day with a sunset cocktail while circumnavigating Daphne Major Islet. This was for sure another day in paradise at the enchanted islands!
