Dragon Hill & Chinese Hat
Our day was full of emotions and memories; the weather conditions gave us a great opportunity to do it all, starting early in the morning with a pre-breakfast outing, to explore the arid forest of Dragon Hill. While walking trough this native and endemic vegetation we came across a lot of land iguanas, which were just starting their day, coming out of their burrows to sunbathe in the middle of our trail; the light was just perfect for taking the best pictures of these big land reptiles found nowhere else in the world. We even found a tiny newborn baby Iguana!
After our walk and a well-deserved breakfast, we geared up with our snorkeling equipment and headed to a group of Isles called Guy Fawkes. At this site, we could snorkel along a big wall full of marine invertebrates and big schools of fish.
Continuing with our day we set sail to a very small Island located off the coast of Santiago, called Chinese Hat. The geography and the geology at this place of the Galápagos Archipelago is very special, there is a natural channel formed right in between a big lava field and a small parasitic cone that is sheltered, just perfect for our aquatic activities. At this site we went deep water snorkeling, kayaking, and also we went to a nice white sandy beach, and had a zodiac ride. Many penguins were seen here, as well as brown pelicans.
As we were heading back to the ship after all our activities on the Island, we were quite lucky to witness a wonderful sunset right in the middle of a cactus forest and a young lava flow!
Our day was full of emotions and memories; the weather conditions gave us a great opportunity to do it all, starting early in the morning with a pre-breakfast outing, to explore the arid forest of Dragon Hill. While walking trough this native and endemic vegetation we came across a lot of land iguanas, which were just starting their day, coming out of their burrows to sunbathe in the middle of our trail; the light was just perfect for taking the best pictures of these big land reptiles found nowhere else in the world. We even found a tiny newborn baby Iguana!
After our walk and a well-deserved breakfast, we geared up with our snorkeling equipment and headed to a group of Isles called Guy Fawkes. At this site, we could snorkel along a big wall full of marine invertebrates and big schools of fish.
Continuing with our day we set sail to a very small Island located off the coast of Santiago, called Chinese Hat. The geography and the geology at this place of the Galápagos Archipelago is very special, there is a natural channel formed right in between a big lava field and a small parasitic cone that is sheltered, just perfect for our aquatic activities. At this site we went deep water snorkeling, kayaking, and also we went to a nice white sandy beach, and had a zodiac ride. Many penguins were seen here, as well as brown pelicans.
As we were heading back to the ship after all our activities on the Island, we were quite lucky to witness a wonderful sunset right in the middle of a cactus forest and a young lava flow!
