From the National Geographic Endeavour in Galapagos

Santiago Island

In the early hours of the day we arrived at Santiago Island and headed ashore before breakfast for a great nature walk. As we landed on Espumilla Beach we notice a large number of sea turtle tracks still fresh from last night. Part of our walk was along a small lagoon formed by the last heavy rains of the season, which attracted a large number of lagoon birds such as Bahamas pintail ducks. We also walked through a mangrove forest that has a beauty hard to describe with words; it has twisted branches and trunks in dark colors combined with the green and orange colors of the leaves of the trees. There are many places we found going under natural arches formed by the tangled vegetation around. This must be one of the most beautiful mangrove forests in the archipelago.

After our walk we returned aboard for breakfast and went to Buccaneer’s Cove; there we went snorkeling or kayaking or for a ride on our glass bottom-boat. We had great conditions for all these activities with sun and great visibility. We saw sharks, sea lions, and several species of fish.

As we returned to our ship we sailed to Puerto Egas, which is located on the western side of Santiago Island, and there we had another great opportunity to snorkel and to walk along the coast. There we encountered several Galapagos fur seals, Galapagos marine iguanas, American oyster catchers, including a very young bird with its parents, and many whimbrels roosting on the lava rocks.

It was a great day in the Galapagos.