Santiago Island
--Buccaneer Cove
--Espumilla Beach
Santiago Island is the 4th largest in the Galapagos with an area of 220miles, altitude of 3,000ft, is uninhabited, and only accessible by Cruise. once home to Tortoises and Land Iguanas; ....Darwin recorded they had difficulty finding a place for a single tent because of all the Land Iguana burrows. today there are neither due to the 1980-90 introduction of goats, pigs, donkeys :( ...total eradication was accomplished in 2006 and rapid recovery of the vegetation has been observed :)
we had already visited the east side of Santiago Island a couple of days ago .... when we walked on that amazing lava field .....
today we are on the west coast ....
View Santiago and Rabida Islands in a larger map
at 6am ... we took a boat cruise through Buccaneer Cove ... it was once used by British Buccaneers who used it for shelter and to stock up on Tortoise meat :(
today ... it has pretty red rocks with bright green vegetation on them ........ but no Tortoises ...
very interesting very tall rock formations ... with large cactus growing on top of them .....
and this rock formation that looks like a 'monk', looking left, with his hands in prayer ...
into the dining room for 6:30 breakfast
and at 7:20 we were making our 'wet landing' on Espumilla Beach, a turtle nesting site
we did a little walk to a Flamingo lagoon, and looked for the Galapagos Hawk, but were unsuccessful on both ....
we did find a Hermit Crab .... Washington demonstrated how they become very active with warm air .... kids: don't try this at home ... they have little pinchers that can grab onto your lips ... ouch!
Washington was a LOT of fun !
we walked back along the beach and came across another group of Cruise people standing at the shore. .... as i approached i noticed they were looking at a tiny new born turtle ...... OMG ! ...this is the FIRST time i've seen one !!!!! ....
they had watched him travel down the sand to the shore, .... and at this point he was in trouble .... everyone wanted to just flip him over .... but .....
we yelled for Washington and about that time the waves came in ... and swept him away .... then thrust him back on the sand again .... then took him back out again .... and another time ... while we were all holding our breath ....
here's the video ....
these are his little tracks in the sand ....
i followed them back up the beach, but didn't see any others. it was Washington's opinion that this one would never make it ... it was daylight, the seas were too rough, and the Frigit Birds would be waiting .... :( .......but we disagreed :)
in the sand one of our group wrote ....
we had our photo taken ...
***
back to the boat at 11am for lunch, ... and travel to Rabida Island ....
Rabida Island
--Snorkel
--Walk on Red Beach
Rabida Island has an area of only 2miles and 1200ft and also uninhabited ..... it is known for it's red beaches and good snorkeling ... Land Iguanas were plentiful here until goats were introduced; but the island has remained goat-free since 1977.
map ...
View Santiago and Rabida Islands in a larger map
at 12:30 we got to snorkel ... our last :) ... we started outside the bay ....
sharks always seem to be on the program .... and i saw several as soon as i got into the water ....
one swam right under me ....
but i soon tired of the sharks and left the group as i searched for 'fishes' :)
i saw this Night LizardFish ... all the LizardFish that i've seen in the Caribbean have been browns and greys ... i like these brighter colors ...
and this Sea Star and Sea Urchin ....
then i spotted something i haven't seen ... yeahhhhhh ... this always makes me so happy ..... it was a Bi-Colored ParrotFish ..... what great unusual colors ....
i followed him around for a long time .... such a big 'beak' and teeth for biting off chunks of coral ....
and, i spotted a ScorpionFish .... yeahhhhh me ... they are not usually out in the open like this ....
i saw this Shell ... with this beautiful bright red-orange, blue-spotted snail-type animal in it .... WoW
the rest of the group finally caught up with me .... about the time i found a lobster, tucked inside a hole in a rock .... and yelled to the group ..... me trying to get a photo ... unsuccessfully ....
but Washington got a photo of it .....
he also got some amazing shots of the King Angelfish .... i have tried and tried, but have never been successful .... experience counts! .... that's a very large clam to the left ...
these are awesome .... look at the detail on those fins ... wow ...
there were a lot of these Anemone's in one area .... but it doesn't appear they are feeding ... or their tentacles would be all open and spread out.... but i liked their subdued colors ...
there were thousands of baby Cardinal Fishes ....
i took a photo of this Flag Cabrilla ... but this one that Washington took is much nicer ..... and includes a White Tailed DamselFish .....
there was also this small patch of red-pink coral .... i miss seeing colorful coral here in the Galapagos .... so this was exciting ...
all agreed this was a very good snorkel too !
***
back to the boat
at 2pm we had a 'wet landing' on a Red Beach ....
a VERY red beach .... striking ...
with Momma Sea Lions and their babies ...
these not-so-baby Pelicans ... patiently waiting for their parents to return with something to eat ....
we went for a walk up on the rocky cliff, and looked down on the bay ... it was pretty and green with turquoise waters .... very calming ....
it was nice to see such green vegetation, after seeing so much black stark lava ....
this is where we started our snorkel today ... around the base of this rock ...
this is the beach that we walked on ... and you can see the Lagoon on the left, where we might have seen Flamingos ...
then into our dingy for the last time, :( .....and back to the boat
***
at our briefing after dinner, the Crew got all dressed up in their uniforms and thanked us ..... i got my photo taken with them.... :) .....Washington is in blue ...
after dark we saw the Bio-luminescense in the wake on the bow of the boat .... before the moon rises in the sky, if it's not too bright .... when you looked at the 'white-water' that the boat was spraying, it was full of tiny lights ..... Magical !
tomorrow is our last day .... but really, today is our last day :( ....
tomorrow we just say goodbye and leave ...
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