Santiago Island
This morning we arrived at Santiago Island, after visiting the amazing western part of Isabela and Fernandina, which was great. At 6:30am we went to visit the beautiful Espumilla Beach, which offers the opportunity to see a beautiful mangrove forest, green olivine sand, sea turtles going back to the sea after laying eggs, ghost crabs, Galápagos hawks, etc.
Back onboard, while we were having breakfast, the National Geographic Endeavour repositioned to Buccaneer’s Cove for our next activities. It was great to be at the very place where the HMS Beagle stopped to drop Charles Darwin, who spent nine days exploring the island. Here we went snorkeling, kayaking and for Zodiac rides.
After a blasting morning we came back on board and had a wonderful lunch, followed by a talk from Jason, our expedition leader, on the Galápagos human history. Meanwhile, the National Geographic Endeavour repositioned again, this time to James Bay.
At 3:30pm some of the guests went to sunbathe and snorkel at this nice black volcanic sand beach, and the rest went for a hike along the coast. Here we had the chance to see the lava grottos, fur seals playing in it, different species of shore birds, lots of marine iguanas, American oystercatchers, etc.
But the finale was a real treat: two brown newborn Galápagos sea lion pups got into a lava pool of water and played like only pups will do. They went in the water and did a lot of splashing, approached the guests and sniffed their shoes; what a day!!!
