Last night we motored around Santa Cruz Island and arrived at Dragon Hill, a very special place where land iguanas are found everywhere. After breakfast, at 8:00 a.m. we disembarked on the black lava rocks and found tons of red sally lightfoot crabs and some blue-footed boobies resting along the shore. Great egrets and blue herons were waiting along the intertidal areas to feed on any living animal in these pools.
Along the subtidal zone some pelicans and blue-footed boobies were diving to catch some fish to eat, and behind the coral beach we saw five greater pink flamingos feeding from the microscopic organisms found in the brackish water. Further inland we spotted some land iguanas basking under the sand close to the burrows they built to overnight and keep warm. It was a great way to start our day.
Once we get the summit of Dragon Hill a breathtaking view was seen - the panoramic scenery that includes several islands such as James, Rabida, Duncan, and Isabela far off on the horizon.
After our walk we came back to our ship and some avid snorkelers suited up and got ready to jump into the water. Once there we found playful sea lions and Galapagos penguins swimming with us. The penguins were an extra gift, because they are found in this place once in a blue moon, but this is our lucky day, and there they were! Multicolor fish, barnacles, sea urchins, and sponges also cover the perpendicular wall of this snorkeling site.
In the afternoon we has a short but nice Zodiac ride along the coast of “Eden” which is a visitor site located at the west of Santa Cruz Island. We enjoyed this and had a lot of fun; we saw a baby black-tipped reef shark, sting rays, eagle rays, and many marine turtles showing their heads out of the water when they come up to the surface to breath.
After that we motored to Daphne, a very old tuff cone standing in the middle of the ocean, not far from Eden. We circumnavigated to see more sea birds and to learn more about evolution of the islands. In fact here lives from time to time a very well-known scientist: Peter Grant, who follows the steps of Charles Darwin researching finches and trying to collect more data about the fastest evolution on earth.
Sunset as always was spectacular and at night, our last activity was some incredible star gazing. All our guests went bed very happy after enjoying an extraordinary day in Galapagos.
