Cerro Dragon & Sombrero Chino
Early morning we arrived to the north-western most corner of Santa Cruz Island. We found this a striking contrast to the green lush vegetation yesterday, and the extreme arid landscape of today.
We explored Cerro Dragon (Dragon Hill) looking for Galápagos land iguanas and enjoying once more the volcanic landscape of the area. We encountered several iguanas including an aggressive female chasing a courting male. She managed to keep him away from her quite effectively; we think she was not quite ready to mate yet.
At some point along our walk we had a chance to stop and feel the cooling breeze blowing from the south. We felt really grateful for it as this was a very warm morning, unusual for this time of the year. To end our morning, some of us went snorkeling in deep waters along a wall, which was completely covered by anemones, sea stars, hydroids, and colorful orange cup coral.
This afternoon we arrived to one of our favorite places in Galápagos, Sombrero Chino. The colors of the late afternoon were marvelous. We went snorkeling, kayaking, swimming off the beach, and had the best chance to swim in the company of penguins. We saw them swimming amongst us. It was completely unexpected, and great. Galápagos penguins are rare to see and not common, so finding some in the water with us was a real treat.
We saw the day end with a gorgeous sunset and had a pitch black night sparkling with bright stars; it is a blessing to be here.
