Santiago Island, 7/18/2024, National Geographic Islander II
Aboard the
National Geographic Islander II
Galápagos
Today we explored the island of Santiago. In the morning, we visited Espumilla Beach and Bucaneers Cove where we went kayaking and snorkeling.
In the afternoon, we visited Puerto Egas where we had our last afternoon of our expedition in the Galapagos Islands. The landscape today was full of wildlife and amazing geological formations that offered great opportunities for photography, conversations, and wonderful memories with our dear guests.
Javier 's passion for birds and nature began as a child exploring the Pyrenees mountains with his father. The mystery that surrounds the Lammergeier silhouette triggered his curiosity and interest towards wildlife. Javier studied biology in Spain and...
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Our day began with perfect weather for an early morning walk on North Seymour Island, a fascinating landmass that emerged millions of years ago from the seafloor due to geological uplift. As we explored, we encountered numerous magnificent and great frigatebirds perched atop the palo santo trees. Along the trail, we also spotted several blue-footed boobies returning to the island preparing to nest. The landscape of North Seymour is beginning to change with the arrival of the rainy season, and lush green foliage is replacing the dry scenery. After our visit to North Seymour, we set sail westward toward Rabida Island. From a distance, we could see the island’s striking reddish hue, a result of iron oxidation and volcanic erosion. The afternoon provided the perfect conditions for snorkeling along the beach, where our guests had a thrilling experience swimming with playful sea lions, colorful fish and, of course, the blue-footed boobies that captivated everyone. At around 5:00 PM, we returned for a walk along the beach to visit a lagoon where flamingos nest, and we encountered several Galapagos sea lions resting along the shoreline. Just before sunset, we returned to National Geographic Islander II, cherishing the unforgettable memories of this incredible day in the Galapagos.
The day started with a talk on photography using one’s smart phone, quite fitting for the day we had ahead of us. We boarded buses in town and headed for the highlands, visiting first El Trapiche, a traditional farm where we learned to make brown raw sugar, moonshine, coffee, and chocolate. We had the chance of tasting everything, and everything was good. Afterwards, we headed to Los Gemelos, a pair of spectacular sinkholes surrounded by the last remains of the original Galapagos highlands forest. The plant coverage here is very different from the desertic vegetation we associate with Galapagos. Later after lunch, we visited Manzanillo, a private tortoise reserve. On our way, we had to literally slalom through a large number of tortoises that were on the road!
Today is our last full day of our expedition, and we navigated all the way to San Cristobal Island to see the popular red-footed boobies. We started our morning with a pre-breakfast hike at Punta Pitt, a place with a stunning landscape full of eroded tuff cones and the only visiting site that has the three species of boobies in the Galapagos. This is the right place for bird watching! After the hike we went back on board to have breakfast, and we got ready to go back to the beach. After enjoying a delicious traditional Ecuadorian lunch, we got ready to land at Cerro Brujo which is one of the ten most beautiful beaches of the world. Here we swam with sea lions and enjoyed the spectacular scenery. We ended the day with a mesmerizing sunset circumnavigating Kicker Rock! What a fabulous last day we had in these enchanted islands.