Punta Pitt and Leon Dormido
The Galápagos Islands exploration continued today in the San Cristobal Islands, and by hiking up the cliffs of Punta Pitt, where we enjoyed a landscape of marvels. After a comfortable landing at a golden sand beach, we came into a magic combination of old tuff cones and dry zone vegetation. The dry zone of San Cristobal is the living home of many unique species such as the San Cristobal lava lizard. It was a spectacular experience to see colorful male lizards along the trail warming up their bodies against the lava rocks.
Inside the vegetation, a bird paradise was found. Land birds of different species were singing like a natural symphony. One of the main attractions was definitely the Chatham mockingbird. Of the four mockingbird species found in the archipelago, the Chatham mockingbird is the only one living on San Cristobal Island; however we were very lucky to enjoy the beautiful melodies it was singing as we hiked farther up hill.
Once we arrived to the highest section of the trail, a magnificent view was shown to our senses. A color combination of white sand beaches, volcanic tuff cones, and a deep blue sea showed us how magical the Galapagos Islands can be. As soon as we reached the farthest point of the trail, it was time to see the major attraction of the day: red-footed boobies. These stunning seabirds are a special highlight to the exploration, as they reside in very few places inside the archipelago. We saw them flying all over the place, and heard them singing along the cliff area. Once back on the beach, we had a very relaxing experience among Galápagos sea lions and marine iguanas. As we came back on board the National Geographic Endeavour, we pulled anchor and started sailing to our next destination.
The best way to begin the afternoon exploration was to go deep-water snorkeling at one of the most fantastic places of the archipelago: Leon Dormido. The Galápagos Islands has a spectacular underwater realm. Once in the water, all the marvels of the marine reserve were shown to us. Reef fishes of many different colors all over the rocks made us feel like we were inside a natural fish tank. The biggest attraction was the numerous black-tipped reef sharks that were found in the area. As we reached the other side of the cliffs, a great number of Pacific green sea turtles were swimming up and down into the water. Our journey ended with a comfortable navigation around Leon Dormido as we enjoyed a beautiful sunset in the background.
Today we had one of the most emblematic experiences at the living paradise of the Galápagos Islands.
