Cerro Dragon & Sombrero Chino
Our morning walk at Dragon’s Hill (Cerro Dragon) started with a nice welcome from the endemic Galápagos flycatcher; flying from one palo santo tree to another in front of us, almost like it was showing us which direction to go.
We continued looking for the “yellow dragons” that give the name to this visitor site in the north of Santa Cruz Island; we found several of these land iguanas resting under the bushes and one feeding on the endemic Opuntia cactus. At the end of the trail, back at the beach, we saw some marine iguanas in an unusual behavior: crawling on top of the saltwort and having some bites of it; could be that they needed to vary their diet or there was not enough algae close by.
We left the iguanas behind to continue with snorkeling at Guy Fawkes Islets. As soon as we jumped in the water we were surrounded by a group of playful Galápagos Sea Lions, yellow tailed surgeon fish, chocolate chip sea stars and much more. But that was not all. When we were ready to go back on board the National Geographic Endeavour, a humpback whale female and a calf came up for a breath and showed us their majestic dorsal fins.
In the afternoon, Galápagos penguins, white tip reef sharks and crystal clear waters made probably the best snorkeling of the week. Some of our guests explored from the kayaks and others enjoyed a Zodiac ride. Meanwhile, at the white sandy beach, one of our guests probably thought that she was comfortable lying on the sand taking photos, but a Galápagos sea lion decided she was the best place to rest, crawled on top of her and settled down until it was time for us to leave! Of course, we all know that humans are not allowed to touch the wildlife, but what can we do besides smile if they decide to explore us?
All this happened on a small islet called Sombrero Chino or Chinese Hat, close to Santiago Island!
