Cerro Dragon, Santa Cruz Island & Sombrero Chino
Today started with an early wake-up call to go ashore on the northern coast of Santa Cruz Island. By 6:30 a.m. we disembarked and went on a walk through a beautiful cactus forest that is home for the land iguanas. We were ready for anything, as Cindy had warned us about possible mud along the way but instead, everyone was joyous and happy to be exploring and walking through very tall grasses from the rainy season.
We did find a few beautiful yellow iguanas along the trail and came back pretty clean as the terrain was dry, so it all went very well and we made it back on board by 8 am for a nice breakfast. After that, we went snorkeling to a small islet called Guy Fawkes. We jumped in water so deep that we couldn’t see the bottom, but when you got close to the island itself there was a very impressive wall with beautiful colors and lots of fish of all different sizes and shapes. It was a great experience since we slowly drifted along the wall and could enjoy a couple of sea lions that joined us.
In the afternoon, we cruised to a different island called Sombrero Chino (“Chinese Hat”) located right next to big Santiago Island and the program included more water activities. Some went snorkeling, others kayaking and a few went to the beach. We had great fun there playing with the waves and having a penguin come swim in between us every couple of minutes. The surrounding was quite magical too: a beautiful little white sand beach to ourselves, turquoise waters and in the background, and a small volcano in that unique shape that gave the island its name.
