Today our guests experienced Santiago Island. This is the Island that Darwin explored the most when he visited the Galapagos back in 1835. Darwin, together with some crew of the Beagle, camped on the island of Santiago for a week. While on the island, Darwin studied Galapagos marine and land iguanas, collected finches, mockingbirds, insects and plants. Most of the species that Darwin collected were unique to the islands. It was during this time on Santiago Island that Darwin noticed the Galapagos wildlife was strangely unafraid of humans.
5/29/2025
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National Geographic Gemini
Genovesa Island
Genovesa is considered one of the Galapagos crown jewels, and today it was showing off all of its splendor. Immediately after breakfast we put on our sturdy shoes and set out to explore Prince Philip’s Steps. This area is known for opportunities to observe not only large colonies of nesting Nazca and red-footed boobies, but maybe, just maybe, the short-eared owl which exhibits diurnal behavior on this island. After this walk we got ready for a dip in the Pacific Ocean and snorkeling along the inner coast of this caldera. The afternoon was equally amazing as we disembarked to explore Darwin Bay, along a short and easy trail that was packed with wildlife. Here we observed not only nesting frigatebirds, red-footed boobies, and Nazca boobies, but also a few yellow-crowned night herons. It was another incredible afternoon in the Galapagos Islands.
