Santa Cruz Island
This time our destination is Cerro Dragon on the north side of the island. We started our day eager to see more of the Galápagos. Disembarkation began and we headed to the land iguana colony, not before seeing blue-footed boobies giving us a show of their diving abilities as they tried to get their first meals. Minutes afterwards we were already spotting the first wild life from the place, among the waders the most attractive ones were the white-cheeked pintail ducks as well as other smaller migrants to the delight of the birders!
The hike was very enjoyable as we went trough the dry Palo Santo forest, typical to the lowlands. This dry forest is home to many of the Darwin finches; at least five species were spotted as they searched for food in the forest. Beautiful large yellow land iguanas are the residents of the place. Here you can see them gathering prickly pears, sunbathing, hiding in their burrows or resting under the bushes. At this time of the year the vegetation is dry and it is quite easy to see them from far as you walk along the path.
Once the hike was done, we took the Zodiacs to the Polaris to choose from any of the options available such as kayaking or snorkeling. Kayaking was just unbelievable! The kayaking site is known as Venice and is a set of rocky islets where the Galápagos National Park carries out a conservation program to protect the land iguanas from introduced mammals like cats, pigs, dogs and goats. The islets are surrounded by shallow water and the rocky shores are covered by several types of mangroves whose roots are the ideal place for reproduction and shelter for many marine organisms: among them all sorts of reef fish in their initial phase, young sharks, and several kinds of rays, sea lions and sea birds find their food here as well.
This time our destination is Cerro Dragon on the north side of the island. We started our day eager to see more of the Galápagos. Disembarkation began and we headed to the land iguana colony, not before seeing blue-footed boobies giving us a show of their diving abilities as they tried to get their first meals. Minutes afterwards we were already spotting the first wild life from the place, among the waders the most attractive ones were the white-cheeked pintail ducks as well as other smaller migrants to the delight of the birders!
The hike was very enjoyable as we went trough the dry Palo Santo forest, typical to the lowlands. This dry forest is home to many of the Darwin finches; at least five species were spotted as they searched for food in the forest. Beautiful large yellow land iguanas are the residents of the place. Here you can see them gathering prickly pears, sunbathing, hiding in their burrows or resting under the bushes. At this time of the year the vegetation is dry and it is quite easy to see them from far as you walk along the path.
Once the hike was done, we took the Zodiacs to the Polaris to choose from any of the options available such as kayaking or snorkeling. Kayaking was just unbelievable! The kayaking site is known as Venice and is a set of rocky islets where the Galápagos National Park carries out a conservation program to protect the land iguanas from introduced mammals like cats, pigs, dogs and goats. The islets are surrounded by shallow water and the rocky shores are covered by several types of mangroves whose roots are the ideal place for reproduction and shelter for many marine organisms: among them all sorts of reef fish in their initial phase, young sharks, and several kinds of rays, sea lions and sea birds find their food here as well.
