After spending two days on the western realm of Galapagos the National Geographic Endeavour arrived today to the central area of the archipelago. Early this morning, we anchored in the area of Espumilla Bay, located on the western side of Santiago Island. Our day began with a wet landing on a sandy beach, and from there we started our walk to the top of a small cone. While walking through the button mangrove forest, we observed some small land birds such as small ground finches, Galapagos mockingbirds, and Galapagos doves. Some of our guests took the option of the photography walk along the coast and found the many nests of the green sea turtles built several weeks ago. Another great sighting this morning was the Galapagos hawk; this is the top predator in Galapagos and it often hangs around the turtle’s nesting area.
At the end of the walks we returned aboard and navigated during breakfast to Buccaneer’s Cove, where we spent the rest of the morning exploring the coast and the underwater world from the glass-bottom boat, or by kayaking or snorkeling in deep waters. It was a nice sunny morning and water was quite clear, therefore many species of fish and marine invertebrates could be observed around this area.
This afternoon we arrived to Puerto Egas and landed on a black sandy beach, from where we went snorkeling once more. After spending some time on the beach, we went on a walk to look for Galapagos fur seals and shore birds. As we arrived to an area known as “the grottos” we encountered some fur seals and also Galapagos marine iguanas. This site also has a combination of volcanic cinder and a black lava flow, creating some unique and beautiful landscape. At the end of the afternoon we returned on board and shared the different experiences of today. Our adventure continues tomorrow!
