Dragon Hill & Sombrero Chino
We started the day at the northwestern coast of Santa Cruz Island. Dragon Hill is the name given to this place, due to the numerous land iguanas that live on this part of the island. The iguanas were somewhat elusive today, but we managed to find at least two of them—males hiding themselves from the sun, under the vegetation. We also saw one flamingo in the lagoon.
After the walk we headed up for snorkeling at Guy Fawkes Islet, where we were greeted by a school of surgeon fish. We got close to the wall to spend some time looking at microorganisms, which was a different kind of snorkeling experience. In front of the wall was a large school of black-striped salemas. The sea lions wanted to free dive with us, and kept us busy!
In the afternoon, kayaks sounded like a great idea for some people; others wanted to snorkel again and were wonderfully surprised by penguins and white-tipped reef sharks. The beach at Sombrero Chino was busy, with some sea lions playing in the water. And for Zodiac riders the dramatic coastline of Santiago made another amazing impression of the different ecosystems of the Galápagos.
Lots of fun—some people got wet, some did not, but we all for sure enjoyed our day!
