Cerro Dragon & Sombrero Chino

Is early in the morning and a group of photographers are already pressing on their gear, getting ready to start another adventure, this time at Cerro Dragon.

Located on the north western side of Santa Cruz Island, Cerro Dragon displays an arid environment suitable for land iguanas. At shore side however, a hyper saline lagoon enhances the place by adding a lot of green in the area. Impassible, a great blue heron watched us from the shore line rocks as several species of shore birds were having a feast out of the pond together with some waders. In the interior, finches moved from branch to branch amusing us greatly. All of the sudden a land iguana sped pass our feet and at some point –while we were trying not to jump up out of the shock the little creature caused on us – we were concern we could have trod it.

After the shock, we reassume our hike peacefully and we adjusted our minds for the snorkeling session still to come. While snorkeling at Guy Fawkes rocks the whole group was escorted by a “sensational” sea lion that found out how to entertain us. Honoring a long lasting tradition among their kin, the furry marine mammal swam up and down, forth and back all around, making the swimmers laugh even with the snorkels in their mouth. Difficult to say which were more hilarious, people laughing while snorkeling or sea lion playing seek and hide.

All in all, the morning came to an end and our guests were satisfied. At noon, we started our navigation to Sombrero Chino, a little blown volcano off a group called the Bainbridge Rocks.

First thing in the afternoon was to instruct our young explorers on board in the arts of riding the Zodiacs. With the supervision of a naturalist and one adult guest, the riding lessons became a festival. Seeing the faces of all the children after the experience was simply fulfilling. Also, the snorkeling at Sombrero Chino was outstanding, having the Galápagos penguins as witnesses of our endurance. Some guests preferred the small white beach, with the ever present sea lions as a place to spend the early part of the afternoon. After a while everybody did enjoy a revealing Zodiac ride along the coasts of both Sombrero Chino and Santiago Island which is just “across” a very narrow channel.

Once again the Galápagos had gone deep into our souls. A never ending treadmill of emotions that makes the person grows in appreciation of the beauty of nature.