Cerro Dragon and El Eden Island
Today we had the opportunity to see land iguanas in the wild; it was a strenuous walk in a typical warm weather day in the Galápagos, but it was worth all the effort. After landing on the rocky terrain we started to see numerous ghost crabs, hiding from us as we walked along the beach. They may have thought we were some herons that had invaded their beach and were planning to eat them; however we only took a few pictures before they hid in their holes and we kept walking.
As we started the walk inland we passed by a brackish water lagoon where six flamingoes slowly walked as they kept their heads in the water, feeding constantly and pumping water in and out to get the little artemia brine shrimp that give them that unique pink color. After being delighted by this sight we kept hiking, and as we approached the area of the land iguanas we found the first of several “dragons” that we would see this morning. The first one was next to the trail and the contrast in colors was striking – a yellowish iguana in the middle of a green background. The next one was also by the side of the trail, and the third one was walking on the trail but after a while it decided to move into the green vegetation, probably looking for something to eat.
The next exploration of the day was going to be in the ocean, doing some snorkeling and meeting some new animals of the Galápagos, including a turtle, a ray, lots of reef fish, and a white-tipped reef shark that swam right under a few of our fellow explorers.
In the afternoon, as we moved along the coastline in our Zodiacs, we discovered a few inhabitants of El Eden Island; as expected there were some blue-footed boobies perching on the cliff, which patiently “posed” for us. A single blue-footed booby was plunge-diving nearby, probably trying to capture some very elusive fish, as it kept diving and trying a few times.
When we moved along the mangroves area, several marine iguanas, including some juveniles, were lying motionless on the rocks. Nearby an adult pelican was sitting in a mangrove tree, giving us several minutes to get good pictures of him. Finally, after returning to the National Geographic Endeavour, we had a great navigation that took us close by “Nameless Rock,” quite a unique name for a small rock in the middle of the ocean.
The day ended with a beautiful sunset, while on the other extreme of the horizon the moon was rising over Santa Cruz Island. This moment will be in our memories forever.
