It was 6:30 in the morning and a party of adventurous guests was ready to get ashore. Today, the National Geographic Endeavour was anchored at Playa Espumilla in Santiago Island.
We disembarked via a wet landing on a dark sandy beach that was surrounded by mangroves. This beach is an important nesting site for the Pacific green sea turtle. We then took the trail system that led us to the heart of a forest of incense trees. The air was full of the aromatic scent that these trees emit. We found some small ground finches, Galapagos mockingbirds, yellow warblers and lava lizards along the way. We climbed up a small hill where we gained some elevation that allowed us to observe the bay and a small brackish lagoon with white-cheeked pintails swimming around. Far in the distance, we could see our ship and some of the volcanoes from Isabela Island. The view from the top was definitely a sight to behold. Once we started to head back down, two Galapagos hawks stopped us—it was an immature asking for food from its mother. It was the right place, the right time and the right light to get excellent and unique pictures. Everybody was really excited about the sightings of the morning, and before we ended our hike, a Galapagos racer snake showed up. It spent some minutes with us before continuing on its way, looking for its breakfast. It was a rewarding morning for our early morning hikers.
After the morning hike, we returned to the ship for breakfast. Everybody was abuzz about the great nature walk they just took, and planning what activities to take next.
Late in the morning, our ship repositioned to Buccaneer’s Cove, a well-known anchorage site among pirates and whalers. This time our guests had the opportunity to kayak, snorkel or take a ride in the glass-bottom boat.
After an intense morning full of activities, it was time to return to the ship, to take a shower and enjoy our lunch. After lunch, our naturalist Antonio Adrian continued with the second “Paper to Pearls” workshop. Later on, some of our guests attended a very informative lecture about Charles Darwin given by our naturalist Salvador Cazar.
In the afternoon, the National Geographic Endeavour dropped anchored at another visitor site known as Egas Port at James Bay. We ventured out on a hike along the coastline to explore the tidal pools and the different geological formations in the area. We were welcomed by proud mother sea lions feeding their newborn babies, some just a few days old. Blue-footed boobies, brown pelicans and marine iguanas were also part of the setting of a wonderful moment I like to call the “Galapagos Moment”. Galapagos fur seals were certainly the highlight of the afternoon hike. There was also the option to go snorkeling with turtles from the beach, and an outdoor workshop with our resident artist Amy Wright.
As we were walking back to the landing beach, we enjoyed the “golden hour”, a term adopted by photographers to describe the golden color the sun offers right before sunset.
