Cerro Dragón & Sombrero Chino
It’s a new day and the sun has been shining since early in the morning. The National Geographic Polaris is anchored off Santa Cruz Island and we are ready to explore a different site on this central island. Cerro Dragon is located on the northwestern side of Santa Cruz, home to a large colony of land iguanas and at this time of the year they are starting their nesting cycle.
Iguana breeding season is synchronized with the rainy season; the iguanas become a beautiful yellow color and the trees leaf out. This marks the beginning of the year in the Galápagos Islands. As we explored the area we found a number of male iguanas guarding their nests and courting the females.
Later on at the end of this early walk we headed to the snorkelling site. Warm water, calm sea and lots to see! The highlights of the snorkelling site are many, such as parrot fish, endless numbers of damsel fish, and the ever-charming Galápagos sea lions, who delighted us with their antics.
In the afternoon we navigated to Sombrero Chino. Here, we boarded the Zodiacs for the different activities deployed in the area like snorkeling, kayaking, and time to pay a visit to the white sandy beach. The island is surrounded by shallow, calm water with an astonishing number of fish. But that’s not all. There are also sea lions, sharks sting rays, penguins and marine iguanas feeding underwater!
Where else could you take a picture of a marine iguana feeding underwater, and at the same time have a penguin chasing fish right above the iguana?
It’s a new day and the sun has been shining since early in the morning. The National Geographic Polaris is anchored off Santa Cruz Island and we are ready to explore a different site on this central island. Cerro Dragon is located on the northwestern side of Santa Cruz, home to a large colony of land iguanas and at this time of the year they are starting their nesting cycle.
Iguana breeding season is synchronized with the rainy season; the iguanas become a beautiful yellow color and the trees leaf out. This marks the beginning of the year in the Galápagos Islands. As we explored the area we found a number of male iguanas guarding their nests and courting the females.
Later on at the end of this early walk we headed to the snorkelling site. Warm water, calm sea and lots to see! The highlights of the snorkelling site are many, such as parrot fish, endless numbers of damsel fish, and the ever-charming Galápagos sea lions, who delighted us with their antics.
In the afternoon we navigated to Sombrero Chino. Here, we boarded the Zodiacs for the different activities deployed in the area like snorkeling, kayaking, and time to pay a visit to the white sandy beach. The island is surrounded by shallow, calm water with an astonishing number of fish. But that’s not all. There are also sea lions, sharks sting rays, penguins and marine iguanas feeding underwater!
Where else could you take a picture of a marine iguana feeding underwater, and at the same time have a penguin chasing fish right above the iguana?
