Today we visited two small but interesting islands: South Plazas on the north part of Santa Cruz and Santa Fe to the east. These islands are home to two different species of iguanas: the Galapagos land iguana and the Santa Fe land iguana. These two islands are also home to two different species of prickly pear cacti, and both have characteristics that make them unique to the places they live. Aside from this, we observed a number of seabirds and a few colonies of the iconic Galapagos sea lions.
3/11/2023
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National Geographic Islander II
Genovesa Island
Today, National Geographic Islander II anchored in the bay at Genovesa Island, located in the northeastern corner of the archipelago. Our excursion in the morning was to Darwin Bay Beach, and we found big colonies of nesting red-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, and swallow-tailed gulls. After visiting this beautiful bay, we returned to the ship to prepare for snorkeling activities. Some of the guests decided to go kayaking, and others relaxed on the beach. My group snorkeled from a Zodiac by the cliffs of this island. We found hammerhead sharks, various species of reef fish, golden cow rays, turtles, and other great wildlife. This was definitely a wonderful way to finish our time in the water here in the Galapagos. Later in the afternoon, we took a nature walk inland. We found more nesting boobies and mockingbirds. We observed great frigatebird males with their gular pouches inflated to court females. During the second part of the walk, the highlight was a short-eared owl flying around before it seemed to pose for pictures. During sunset, our captain raised a toast to our great time on board together.
