Cerro Dragon (Santa Cruz Island) & Chinese Hat Islet
We started our day anchored in the northern part of Santa Cruz Island. It is called Dragon Hill due to the shape of the remnant tuff cone which is reminiscient of land guanas, or land dragons. The black basalt that once was flowing downhill, burning and destroying any kind of life, remains frozen and still, bathed by the turquoise waters of this little bay. The landscape is now covered with prickly pear cacti known as Opuntia. Deciduous vegetation make of this a perfect place for legendary creatures to live.
The day is warm and land iguanas are out of their burrows, seeming not to care about our presence. We observed several males that at this time of the year are bigger than females, bright yellow-orange and very aggressive toward other male iguanas. Females are dark brown and shy, ready to run away and hide in their burrows.
The marine iguanas, who live not too far from the land iguanas, forage underwater on sea lettuce. Along the rocky shores they are observed sneezing saltwater after diving for food.
Looking towards the horizon we find a couple of tuff cones called Guy Fawkes Islets, located two miles away from our ship; it is our next destination to explore this underwater realm and to swim with playful Galápagos sea lions. The water here is crystal clear, making it possible to observe a myriad of fish… nobody wanted to go back to the ship for lunch.
After lunch, Paula our Expedition Leader invited guests to participate in our traditional Lex Forum to talk about why the big fish are disappearing. Several concerns were expressed about illegal fisheries and shark fining and why and how we should take care of marine ecosystems.
We repositioned our ship to drop anchor next to Chinese Hat islet where the dramatic volcanic landscape is just one hundred and twenty years old; we thought about how terrible it must have been for such vulnerable creatures to experience a volcanic eruption.
We were touched by the sunset behind Chinese Hat on our way back to National Geographic Polaris.
We started our day anchored in the northern part of Santa Cruz Island. It is called Dragon Hill due to the shape of the remnant tuff cone which is reminiscient of land guanas, or land dragons. The black basalt that once was flowing downhill, burning and destroying any kind of life, remains frozen and still, bathed by the turquoise waters of this little bay. The landscape is now covered with prickly pear cacti known as Opuntia. Deciduous vegetation make of this a perfect place for legendary creatures to live.
The day is warm and land iguanas are out of their burrows, seeming not to care about our presence. We observed several males that at this time of the year are bigger than females, bright yellow-orange and very aggressive toward other male iguanas. Females are dark brown and shy, ready to run away and hide in their burrows.
The marine iguanas, who live not too far from the land iguanas, forage underwater on sea lettuce. Along the rocky shores they are observed sneezing saltwater after diving for food.
Looking towards the horizon we find a couple of tuff cones called Guy Fawkes Islets, located two miles away from our ship; it is our next destination to explore this underwater realm and to swim with playful Galápagos sea lions. The water here is crystal clear, making it possible to observe a myriad of fish… nobody wanted to go back to the ship for lunch.
After lunch, Paula our Expedition Leader invited guests to participate in our traditional Lex Forum to talk about why the big fish are disappearing. Several concerns were expressed about illegal fisheries and shark fining and why and how we should take care of marine ecosystems.
We repositioned our ship to drop anchor next to Chinese Hat islet where the dramatic volcanic landscape is just one hundred and twenty years old; we thought about how terrible it must have been for such vulnerable creatures to experience a volcanic eruption.
We were touched by the sunset behind Chinese Hat on our way back to National Geographic Polaris.
