From South to North… same island, different place. The National Geographic Endeavour is anchored this morning off shore Santa Cruz Island at Dragon Hill. We wisely decided to disembark at sunrise. Far too soon the heat will challenge our physiological capacity. The Zodiac stayed along the shoreline and let us land on a black lava rock where cacti root so close to the shore that the Blue footed boobies find a rest under their spiky shadows. The same island as yesterday, the same cacti, but with a quite different outlook. This is adaptation in action. North and South express their differences upon the organism they shelter.
On the lagoon behind the beach, a flamingo hoovers the surface to scoop its daily portion of food out of such salty water that nothing could possibly survive at first thought. But the presence of many other shore birds demonstrate the contrary.
Right behind the lagoon is the dry forest. The cotton is in bloom and the incense trees are producing leaves, this is when the finches nest, it’s the rainy season.
A land iguana blends into the grasses and seems to have waited for us, as he doesn’t blink when we pass close to his side and surround him for pictures.
The sun is already high in the sky and it is time to go back on board for a good breakfast.
There is a snorkeling outing at Guy Fawkes Island waiting for us this morning, and the surprisingly calm and warm water invite us to extend the water exploration as much as we can.
The ship doesn’t need a long navigation before we reposition to reach our afternoon destination, Eden Islet. The eroded crater is as green as I ever remember seeing it, the rain has been very generous this year.
We took a Zodiac ride along the coast in search of blue footed boobies, pelicans, brown noddy terns and others sea critters. Some of us go for a kayak exploration.
We eventually decide to end this day of exploration with a champagne circumnavigation around Daphne Major Island at sunset.
We had three visiting sites today, to our delight, in the Galapagos. This has been another full day of discovering around the archipelago.
