Santiago Island
This island has so much to offer for our Galápagos explorers. We are in the rainy season and the vegetation is very lush everywhere we go. Land birds are also very actively breeding because they are taking advantage of the good conditions they have at this time of the year. Pacific green sea turtles are nesting because the sky is clear, perfect for incubating their eggs. And to make this island even more exciting we have an interesting story of human history here as well.
On our pre-breakfast adventure we disembarked on a black volcanic beach covered with turtle nests. We crossed the sand dune, which was very challenging because we didn’t want to destroy their eggs; along the beach we have black and button mangroves, and right behind this vegetation zone a lagoon formed with rainwater. The lagoon was teeming with birds—mostly white-cheeked pintail ducks. We crossed the arid vegetation zone with its native and endemic plants, but because of the rain it was like being in the jungle. Meanwhile a group of kayakers were exploring the coastline of the same area, blue-footed boobies and brown pelicans were plunge diving for food, turtles were popping their heads out of the water all around. It was just a phenomenal morning experience here in paradise.
The day was far from over, and soon we were in a different location lowering our Zodiacs for deep water snorkeling at Buccaneer’s Cove with sea lions and tropical fish. Turtles and a beautiful wall covered with invertebrates such as: sea stars, sea urchins, sponges, etc.
Our very last activity was in a historical place known as Puerto Egas. This walk is the best for exploring tidal pools in Galápagos, especially because it was low tide. We started by visiting the grottos because this is the best place to see the second species of sea lions found in this archipelago—Galápagos fur seals. The light was perfect for taking pictures of migratory shore birds such as semipalmated plovers, ruddy turnstones, whimbrels, sanderlings, sand pipers—and that’s not even counting the wildlife we typically see here!
