Today we enjoyed the opportunity to explore the uplands of Santa Cruz, one of the largest islands of the Galápagos. The humid zone offers perfect foraging grounds for the giant tortoise; in order to find the tortoises, we travelled by bus from the north of the island to the southern side. We found large numbers of tortoises on the privately owned El Manzanillo Ranch. After a delicious lunch, we returned to our ship and weighed anchor. We had reports that Wolf Volcano, located on Isabela Island, was still active! We navigated for a few hours until we reached the coast nearest to the eruption site; from there, we admired a beautiful red glow against the dark night. What an amazing opportunity to admire the forces of nature that produced these magnificent islands!
3/27/2024
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National Geographic Endeavour II
Santiago Island
We are having fun exploring the Galapagos Islands. Today we arrived at the center of the archipelago to explore two magical visitor sites, Buccaneer Cove and Puerto Egas. Early in the morning we explored the shoreline in our Zodiacs and we saw many marine turtles mating and blue-footed boobies diving or resting on the rocks. We also saw frigates, pelicans, terns, and more. After breakfast some of our guests went kayaking for a closer encounter with nature. The snorkeling was also spectacular. We saw three different types of sharks, including a hammerhead. We found a school of eagle rays, a wide variety of multicolor reef fish, and a zebra moray. In the afternoon we explored the coastal line of Puerto Egas. This destination is full of wildlife and along our walk we saw red neck lava lizards, finches, land iguanas, mockingbirds, and hawks. At the intertidal zone we found sea lions, and many migratory birds such as plovers, whimbrels, and ruddy turnstones. We had an amazing day!