Cerro Dragon & Sombrero Chino
Early this morning we enjoyed a great sunrise on the northern side of Santa Cruz Island. We visited Cerro Dragon named after the large land iguanas that meander around this arid area that is covered by “palo santo” trees and giant prickly pear cacti. Since it was low tide we had the opportunity to see the tidal pools that are left behind in between the black lava rocks. We observed a great blue heron that was hunting for some crabs or fish, whichever came first.
Inland the vegetation had covered the site where the land iguanas live, so it was not easy to spot these creatures. However, as the morning warmed up we saw some of them basking themselves right in the middle of the trail, so it was very easy to take pictures of them since they were very sluggish and cooperative. The highlight for some of us was the sighting of a juvenile land iguana that had climbed up on a vine to catch the sun rays.
After a well deserved breakfast we went for a great snorkeling along the cliffs of Guy Fawkes. Here we went from shallow to extremely deep water and both areas were as beautiful as one can imagine. The wall where we saw hundreds of invertebrates was especially beautiful with its different colors that reminded me of a painting in the middle of the ocean.
At midday the National Geographic Endeavour sailed to our next destination, “Sombrero Chino” for a great snorkeling along the coastline of Santiago. Here we saw parrot fish, sea stars, sergeant majors, white tip sharks sleeping in a cave and many other species.
Last, but not least, our last water activity of the day was a Zodiac ride along the coast of Santiago, where we spotted the tiny Galápagos penguins basking on the lava with the last sun rays, a great blue heron followed by a striated heron and the most amazing sight were the Galápagos hawks mating on top of a spatter cone with the last sun rays of the day behind them.
Magical, amazing, outstanding, are just few words that can barely describe this exceptional paradise.
