Cerro Dragon & Sombrero Chino
The Galápagos are known as a land of dragons; iguanas have covered the shores and dry areas of the islands and have been observed by every visitor from centuries. With the introduction of invasive species, land iguanas suffered a lot, becoming prey of animals such as dogs and cats, which almost made them extinct.
Today we visited Cerro Dragon, Spanish for Dragon Hill, one of the last places where years ago we could observe the last Galápagos land iguanas. The Galápagos National Park developed a program to restore the population of these emblematic animals and today we can see them in this area completely recovered. The trail is covered with native and endemic vegetation; it drove us to the summit of a hill from where we enjoyed the view of the islands around Santa Cruz.
After the walk we jumped in the waters around a tuff cone known as Guy Fawkes. The area is really deep and with some currents, we explored a very interesting underwater wall covered with corals, sponges and algae; our second option was a Zodiac ride along the shores of one of Guy Fawkes islets. We found brown noddy terns nesting, Nazca boobies, and even a swallow-tailed gull’s chick.
In the afternoon we snorkeled in a completely different area, at Sombrero Chino, in shallow waters full of life: marine iguanas, Galápagos penguins and all different tropical fish species.
Sombrero Chino means Chinese Hat. This islet is formed by a parasitic cone which really looks like its name describes it, and with this beautiful scenery we were witnesses of the sunset that closed another perfect day in the Enchanted Islands.
