This morning we arrived at the northwestern coast of Santa Cruz Island, where we went ashore to have a hike on Dragon Hill. This is a very special place as it is part of a restoration program for Galapagos land iguanas. These reptiles almost disappeared when feral dogs were introduced here many years ago as pets. As the population of land iguanas declined, the efforts to save them increased; dogs were removed from this area and iguanas were raised in semi-captivity and later returned to Dragon Hill. This morning we saw some of the adults sunbathing while others were resting under the shade. During our walk we also encountered a lonely greater flamingo feeding on brine shrimp from a small brackish water lagoon.
After our walk on Dragon Hill we went snorkeling. Some of our guests went to a nearby beach while others headed towards Guy Fawkes islets; on both places guests observed different types of fish and invertebrates, and some swam with sea turtles whiles others encountered white-tipped reef sharks.
At the end of the morning we returned to our ship and navigated towards a beautiful area known as Eden. Here we had the option to kayak, our young explorers had Zodiac driving lessons, and we also had the option of a coastal exploration by Zodiac. This afternoon in this area we found many things. Some observed blue-footed boobies fishing, green sea turtles, Galapagos sea lions, juvenile black-tipped sharks, and brown pelicans. This afternoon we also navigated along the coast of Daphne Major Islet and had a great sunset to end our day in this amazing archipelago.
