This morning we arrived at a small island on the eastern realm of Santa Cruz Island called South Plazas Island. Our walk took us along a rocky trail where Galapagos land iguanas were found in large numbers and most were displaying territorial and mating behavior. There were also females Galapagos sea lions with their newborn pups and the large territorial males barking along the coast. As we reached the cliffs we observed several swallow-tailed gulls and magnificent frigate birds flying above our heads. From the cliffs we saw several schools of yellow-tailed mullets and king angel fish.
At the end of the morning we left this island and navigated to Santa Fé Island. This afternoon we snorkeled from the Zodiacs in a protected bay where we found sea turtles, rays, and for our guests who wanted to go kayaking, we explored the outer side of the bay along the dramatic cliffs of this island.
After these two activities we returned aboard and then went for a walk to look for the endemic Santa Fé land iguana and saw some of these reptiles taking advantage of the last rays of sun. One of the highlights this afternoon was to find several Santa Fé rice rats—one of them was taking the remains of a Sally lightfoot crab away with it. This island has no introduced species of rats so finding the endemic one is a great privilege. The day ended on Santa Fé Island with great wild life sightings and colorful sunset.
