Today we anchored in Academy Bay in the south end of Santa Cruz Island, we spent all day on this island and here we had the chance to see Galapagos giant tortoises in captivity at the Fausto Llerena rearing center. During the afternoon we got to see wild tortoises in their natural habitat. Our day on Santa Cruz also let us have time to enjoy a bit of the island´s lifestyle and our guests had time to contribute to the local economy by getting some of the handcrafts on the town´s shops.
5/11/2025
Read
National Geographic Endeavour II
Española Island
We started our expedition by visiting one of the oldest islands of the archipelago and quite a fantastic one. We explored the beach in the morning and the inside of the island in the afternoon. Our first outing was a snorkel exploration of a small islet located on Gardner Bay, where we observed sharks, sea lions, sea turtles, spotted eagle rays, and many colorful fish! The temperature of the water, great visibility, and an abundance of life made for an outstanding first deep-water snorkel. We also walked and swam on a beautiful white sand beach next to the big colony of sea lions that live here. In the afternoon, we hiked on Suárez Point. This is the only site in the archipelago where we can find the very famous waved albatross. We walked a rocky trail and spotted marine iguanas and lava lizards with nearly every step before reaching the nesting grounds of Nazca boobies and the albatrosses. These wonderful and magnificent marine birds nested and displayed for their mates. We observed the beauty of these animals as we enjoyed the sunset. It was a spectacular first full day.
