Today we visited the northwestern part of Santa Cruz Island, Dragon Hill, one of the few locations where it is still possible to see land iguanas in the wild. The population of land iguanas from this part of the archipelago were decimated due to the presence of feral dogs back in the 1970s. However, thanks to the restoration efforts of the Galapagos National Park, this population of land iguanas is thriving, and currently it is estimated to be around 700 individuals.
The brackish water lagoon at the beginning of our outing harbors several species of coastal and migratory birds. Today we observed black-necked stilts, a great blue heron as well as white-cheeked pintail ducks and several marine iguanas in the lagoon.
Later in the morning, we took our Zodiacs out to Guy Fawkes Islets. We went deep-water snorkeling and observed many species of colorful fish, including yellow-tailed surgeonfish, king angelfish, and parrotfish. The vertical walls were covered with bright marine sessile invertebrates including sponges, ascidians, soft corals, hydroids, barnacles, anemones and bryozoans.
In the afternoon the National Geographic Endeavor II sailed around Daphne Major and our guests learned about the research that Peter and Rosemary Grant have been conducting on the Darwin finches for more than forty years.
