Cerro Dragon, Santa Cruz Island & Chinese Hat Islet
After spending the whole previous day on Santa Cruz Island observing and learning about conservation and restoration in the archipelago, we woke up early in the morning for breakfast and an early disembarkation before the sun started to heat up. We were still in Santa Cruz, but this time had re-positioned to the north-western coast.
Upon starting our nature walk, we passed by a brackish lagoon populated by two solitary flamingos, some black-necked stilts and several other lagoon birds. We continued our walk to reach an area called “Dragon Hill” because of the land iguanas in the area, and what an impressive sight we had: the male land iguanas were very colorful and displaying push-ups as a sign of their breeding season. We even had the chance to see two male land iguanas fighting for a piece of territory, a delightful show of confrontational behaviour in nature, and after 20 minutes of waiting to see the final result of the dispute neither of them gave up the fight. Although their strength seemed quite evenly matched, eventually one will have to come out the winner – our patience ended first, however!
After this amazing early start to the morning, we returned to the ship for a quick change before continuing with our program. Some of us went out for some deep water snorkeling along the spectacular cliffs of the offshore Guy Fawkes Islets, whilst others decided to go to the beach to relax the rest of the morning.
In order to continue with our afternoon program we repositioned the National Geographic Polaris to a tiny islet called Chinese Hat, part of the small group of Bainbridge Rocks off the south-eastern shore of Santiago Island.
Once we arrived at the secluded bay in between Santiago and Chinese Hat, some went out for water activities along the coast of Santiago Island, others for kayaking while yet more tried to relax at a tiny white sandy beach patrolled by a huge male seal lion. The experience in this place was outstanding for all of us: kayakers, snorkelers and Zodiac riders had the chance to see many Galápagos penguins, hawks and baby sea lions.
We finished our unforgettable day out on our teak deck for a BBQ dinner, with many of our guest talking about how different their Galápagos experiences are from one day to another.
After spending the whole previous day on Santa Cruz Island observing and learning about conservation and restoration in the archipelago, we woke up early in the morning for breakfast and an early disembarkation before the sun started to heat up. We were still in Santa Cruz, but this time had re-positioned to the north-western coast.
Upon starting our nature walk, we passed by a brackish lagoon populated by two solitary flamingos, some black-necked stilts and several other lagoon birds. We continued our walk to reach an area called “Dragon Hill” because of the land iguanas in the area, and what an impressive sight we had: the male land iguanas were very colorful and displaying push-ups as a sign of their breeding season. We even had the chance to see two male land iguanas fighting for a piece of territory, a delightful show of confrontational behaviour in nature, and after 20 minutes of waiting to see the final result of the dispute neither of them gave up the fight. Although their strength seemed quite evenly matched, eventually one will have to come out the winner – our patience ended first, however!
After this amazing early start to the morning, we returned to the ship for a quick change before continuing with our program. Some of us went out for some deep water snorkeling along the spectacular cliffs of the offshore Guy Fawkes Islets, whilst others decided to go to the beach to relax the rest of the morning.
In order to continue with our afternoon program we repositioned the National Geographic Polaris to a tiny islet called Chinese Hat, part of the small group of Bainbridge Rocks off the south-eastern shore of Santiago Island.
Once we arrived at the secluded bay in between Santiago and Chinese Hat, some went out for water activities along the coast of Santiago Island, others for kayaking while yet more tried to relax at a tiny white sandy beach patrolled by a huge male seal lion. The experience in this place was outstanding for all of us: kayakers, snorkelers and Zodiac riders had the chance to see many Galápagos penguins, hawks and baby sea lions.
We finished our unforgettable day out on our teak deck for a BBQ dinner, with many of our guest talking about how different their Galápagos experiences are from one day to another.
