Halfway through our expedition in the enchanted Galapagos Archipelago, we have now started exploring the central part of this remote group of islands, slightly south of the Equator, some 540 nautical miles off the west coast of South America.
Continuing our exploration of Santa Cruz Island, the National Geographic Endeavour relocated overnight from the wind swept southern shores to the lee of the relatively calm northern shores of the island.
As we stepped into the dining room for breakfast, we noticed a much greyer landscape than the one we had witnessed the previous morning. This hinted to a phenomenon known as the “rain shadow effect” through which the condensing water of the moist sea level air is trapped by the windward side of the volcano, producing a much dryer environment on the leeward side of this the island—the second largest island of the Archipelago.
Our last landing of this expedition at Santa Cruz Island was at Cerro Dragon, or Dragon Hill. Our objective, to find Galapagos land iguanas. Although we kept our hopes low, since we hadn’t observed many individuals along the trail in previous weeks, we were surprised to find quite a healthy mix of large males and female land iguanas, as they were just emerging out of their burrows.
As we hiked by a nearby a brackish water lagoon, we spotted a few American flamingoes and a few other species of wading birds, as we made our way back to the shore to meet up with our Zodiacs.
Later on in the morning, our guests explored the underwater world by snorkeling from a small beach on the shores of Santa Cruz Island and nearby Guy Fawkes Islet. Visibility proved better than average, as we were able to witness several massive shoals of Creole fish that would otherwise have been lost in the darkness of the deep, as hundreds upon hundreds of fish foraged.
During our afternoon, we stopped at Eden Islet for one more kayaking session. Our young explorers took up the challenge of Zodiac driving lessons, as other explorers followed the coast line of the islet and the narrow channel towards the main island, in search of sea birds.
We welcomed the beginning of yet another spectacular day on the forward deck of National Geographic Endeavour, while exploring the flavors of regional South American wines as we circumnavigated Daphne Major Islet.
As I write these ending words, our naturalist Vanessa is holding a “star talk” on the sky deck after dinner, taking advantage of perfectly-timed clear evening skies.
