We are already half way into our fantastic expedition in the Galápagos Islands. We navigated all night long and dropped anchor early in the morning at Espumilla Beach on the northwest side of Santiago Island. This is a long beach surrounded by beautiful mangroves, where Pacific green sea turtles nest during their breeding season. Behind the beach there is a trail that leads inland into small forests of palo santos and old mangrove trees and up the remains of an eroded cinder cone where the views are fantastic. These are the vast territories of some Galápagos hawks, and some juveniles approached us with intense curiosity at the beach.
We returned on board to have a well-earned breakfast then began the rest of the activities of our busy morning. We have enjoyed some fantastic weather this week. The visibility of the water has been exceptional and many of our guests signed up for the glass-bottom boat outings by Buccaneer Cove, close to Espumilla. There were large schools of razor surgeonfish, Pacific creole fish, and striped salemas, a favorite prey of the blue-footed boobies. Another way to explore the stunning coast of this area was by kayak. The waters were calm so the opportunity was great! A little later, there was a chance to jump in the water for some snorkeling. It was a bright morning with very pleasant water temperatures. With such great conditions, we could easily spot many schools of fish as well as interesting marine invertebrates attached to the walls, like sponges, colorful sea anemones, barnacles and marine snails. Superb!
In the afternoon a short navigation took us to nearby James Bay, where the site known as Puerto Egas is located. There used to be a little settlement here, but it is now part of the natural areas of the Galápagos National Park. There is a black beach surrounded by beautiful formations of tuff, which have been elegantly modeled by wind and sea erosion. A colony of Galápagos sea lions has made this their home, and it was simply delightful to observe their busy everyday life: mother sea lions nursing their pups, pups playing in the tidal pools, and males patrolling their territories and courting females.
The rocky shore of the trail nearby offered us many more glimpses of fantastic and unique creatures, which thanks to their fearlessness and innocence allowed us to observe them in detail and study their behavior. There were marine iguanas by the dozens. Sally Lightfoot crabs decorated the beautiful rocks. A small colony of Galápagos sea lions lived in some beautiful natural grottos. Sea birds amazed us with their acrobatic skills at catching their prey either offshore or in the tidal pools. In the distance, the outline of the young volcanoes of Isabela and Fernandina Islands reminded us of the youth of this archipelago. What a privilege it is to have reached this isolated and remote place that is Las Encantadas, or The Enchanted Isles!
