Santa Cruz & Chinese Hat Islands
It is a beautiful morning at Dragon´s Hill located at the northeastern extreme of the island of Santa Cruz. Here there are around seven hundred land iguanas which were saved from extinction. Once abundant all around the arid areas of the island, these creatures were little by little decimated by introduced organisms such as cats, dogs, pigs and rats. The presence of goats and donkeys was also troubling, since they ate all vegetation and destroyed iguana nesting areas.
Concerned about the future of the iguanas, Park rangers and scientists decided to move the last adult individuals to the nearby islets and to the Charles Darwin Research Station to help them reproduce in captivity and, in the meantime, control and if possible eradicate all feral animals.
We saw over twenty iguanas sunbathing in front of their burrows today, with their happy faces. Some were also looking for food under the tall prickly pear cactus trees and some females were very busy digging a hole in the ground in order to lay their eggs.
A greater flamingo was quietly filtering the organic ooze in a brackish lagoon with the company of some Black necked stilts, least sandpipers and white-cheeked pintail ducks. After the walk we had the opportunity to snorkel at Guy Fawkes, a remnant of a tuff cone whose underwater walls are full or marine life.
In the afternoon, we visited a very small shield volcano “Chinese Hat” located near the southeastern coast of James Island. Barely separated by a narrow channel of crystal clear waters, the white-coralline sandy bottom contrasts with the magical colors of fresh and old lava flows, cacti and small green/red carpetweed. Sea lions played and small Galápagos penguins swam by us as if they were little torpedoes in pursuit of black-striped Salemas, their favorite food.
At the end of the day with the sun setting on the horizon, we returned back to the National Geographic Endeavour full of nice memories that will remain in our souls forever.
