Bartolome and Santiago Islands
A good day in the Galápagos Islands! A Galápagos hawk surprised us by making a kill of some undetermined prey that only he could see with his amazing eye sight. We human beings only saw the hawk flying from the very top of the island to a spot at least 500 yards away and landing over something so small, that not even the best binoculars could distinguish if from the surrounding landscape. After enjoying the magnificent view from the summit of the island, we breakfasted and then suited up for snorkeling.
We landed and walked across the narrow isthmus to the south beach where we saw an aggregation of at least 15 white tipped reef sharks and a couple of young spotted eagle rays swimming right of the beach. We all went knee high into the water and got so close they could have touched us. The last few people who stayed behind got to see a 9 foot long Galápagos shark swimming along the coastline. At the other side of the island, the snorkeling was great. Even those who stayed at the beach got to see a penguin, so busy and concentrated on its hunting that it did not pay attention to us at all.After siesta, we disembarked at Puerto Egas for more snorkeling. Even though the water was a bit murky, we saw thick schools of brown-striped salemas, black dotted cardinal fish, black tailed mullets, sea lions and sea turtles. Some of us saw also saw a Galápagos shark pup. Walking the trail at Puerto Egas at low tide is every naturalist’s dream. Large groups of marine iguanas, some of them eating in the intertidal pools, American oystercatchers, lava and yellow crowned night herons were observed. A brisk walk back to the landing beach after seeing Galápagos fur seals by a lava grotto, put us in the right mood for a cocktail and recap before dinner time.
A good day in the Galápagos Islands! A Galápagos hawk surprised us by making a kill of some undetermined prey that only he could see with his amazing eye sight. We human beings only saw the hawk flying from the very top of the island to a spot at least 500 yards away and landing over something so small, that not even the best binoculars could distinguish if from the surrounding landscape. After enjoying the magnificent view from the summit of the island, we breakfasted and then suited up for snorkeling.
We landed and walked across the narrow isthmus to the south beach where we saw an aggregation of at least 15 white tipped reef sharks and a couple of young spotted eagle rays swimming right of the beach. We all went knee high into the water and got so close they could have touched us. The last few people who stayed behind got to see a 9 foot long Galápagos shark swimming along the coastline. At the other side of the island, the snorkeling was great. Even those who stayed at the beach got to see a penguin, so busy and concentrated on its hunting that it did not pay attention to us at all.After siesta, we disembarked at Puerto Egas for more snorkeling. Even though the water was a bit murky, we saw thick schools of brown-striped salemas, black dotted cardinal fish, black tailed mullets, sea lions and sea turtles. Some of us saw also saw a Galápagos shark pup. Walking the trail at Puerto Egas at low tide is every naturalist’s dream. Large groups of marine iguanas, some of them eating in the intertidal pools, American oystercatchers, lava and yellow crowned night herons were observed. A brisk walk back to the landing beach after seeing Galápagos fur seals by a lava grotto, put us in the right mood for a cocktail and recap before dinner time.
