A long navigation from the western side of Isabela to the northwestern side of Santiago took us across the Equator line two times during the night. Finally, at 6:00 a.m. the National Geographic Endeavour dropped its anchor at James Bay. Most guests went for a pre-breakfast outing to explore a coastal ecosystem full of mangroves and local fauna.
After breakfast our agenda for the rest of the morning included: kayaking, deep water snorkeling and glass bottom boating. All of these activities were done with sunshine and beautiful turquoise waters. Sea lions and big schools of fish gave us a show.
In the afternoon, Puerto Egas was our visiting site. At this site a big colony of Galapagos fur seals were the stars, some were sleeping over a lava field, others were swimming actively in a collapsed lava tunnel. Puerto Egas turned out to be the perfect place to summarize most of the endemic species guests have seen during the week.
At the end of the walk, we enjoyed an amazing sunset and green flash. It was very special to know Charles Darwin also visited the same areas we did it today. There is no doubt that nearly 200 years after his visit, the archipelago still remains the way it was.
