After another very rough nights sailing, we woke to find
ourselves anchored off the big island of Santa Cruz (the one with the largest
habitation) although we are not scheduled to land there.
After breakfast, at 7.45 we left for the small islet of
South Plaza.
Here we found an island
that has been disturbed by mankind in the past and now the wildlife experts are
trying to recover.
The islet is
populated by Land Iguanas and also Marine Iguanas.
The land iguanas on this islet are yellow in
colour. Their predator is the Galapagos Hawk.
However these birds were almost wiped out here and on nearby Santa Cruz
by farmers in the 1930’s and 40’s as they were seen as a threat to their
livestock.
The land iguanas main diet is
cactus but when the population was uncontrolled due to the demise of the
Galapagos Hawk, this led to more iguanas needing to eat the Cacti trees and they
were also eating all new cacti growth meaning no new trees can grow so when a tree
dies, there is no way it can be replaced.
Now all livestock has to be kept safe by the farmers (i.e. chickens kept
in cages or runs) and the population of the Galapagos Hawk is gradually increasing as the farmers are not persecuting them.
Cacti trees are also being reintroduced but
are in protective cages to stop the iguanas eating them.
Here we also saw cactus finches and small
ground finches.
We watched a couple of
marine iguanas descend a very steep and rocky cliff which was fascinating to
watch. We also saw a hybrid iguana (result of a marine and land iguana mating). Apparently this creature will be seen as an outcast by both types of iguana and will not be able to find a mate and will be victimised.
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| Cactus Finch |
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| Cactus Finch |
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| Cliff Top Scenery |
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| Medium Ground Finch |
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| Land Iguana |
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| Former Lava Tunnel. This was once a tunnel but the roof was been eroded away millions of years ago. |
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| Cactus regeneration |
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| South Plaza Island landscape |
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| Cactus Tree |
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| Audubons Shearwaters |
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| Red Billed Tropic Bird |
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| Red Billed Tropic Bird |
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| Marine Iguana |
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| Land Iguana |
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| Large Ground Finch |
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| Hybrid Iguana, part marine, part land iguana |
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| Land Iguana |
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| Yellow Warbler |
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| Cactus Trees |
We returned to the boat and it then left for the island of
Santa Fe which is 4 hours away.
When we
arrive back from a tour, we are not allowed to take any sand onto the
boat.
If we have a wet landing then we
must wash all sand off our fins, snorkel kit and beach shoes before getting
into the Pangas.
On arrival back at the
boat we are showered down by the crew to remove anything that may have been
missed.
We relaxed on the sundeck where we were initially followed
by 7 Magnificent Frigate Birds who were using the thermals from the boat to
carry them along.
Later we found many
more of them sitting on the railings or any other perch they could find.
Our tour leader said they are very lazy birds
and will take the boat rather than fly to new areas looking for nesting
sites.
Paul had chosen to sunbathe on
the sundeck where as I sat under the shade.
The inevitable happened and one of the Frigate Birds deposited its
droppings on his arm.
He now calls them
“Frigging Birds” but he did come under shade after that.
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| Magnificent Frigate Bird |
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| Magnificent Frigate Bird |
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| Magnificent Frigate Bird using uplift from the boat |
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| Magnificent Frigate Birds over the boat (and Paul sunbathing under them) |
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| Magnificent Frigate Bird hitching a lift on the boat |
We also visited the bridge of the boat and had a chat to the
captain who let me have a go at steering the boat and then after lunch we were taken on a short tour of the Engine Room.
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| Taking the controls |
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| I'm in charge |
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| Diego - Captain of the Solaris |
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| One of the 3 engines powering the boat |
On arrival at Santa Fe Island we did some snorkelling off
the coast of the island and again saw some reef fish.
Our last tour of the day was on Santa Fe Island.
Our tour guide had hoped to see Rice Rats and
Snakes and introduced tortoises but we didn’t see any.
We did see a very large colony of Sea Lions
on arrival and several Land Iguanas.
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| Land Iguana and Swallow Tailed Gull |
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| Sea Lions on the beach |
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| Very Old Cactus Tree |
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| Land Iguana |
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| Trees look dead but they are just dormant |
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| Land Iguana |
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| Land Iguana climbing up tree to get to the vegetation |
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| Pedro with Cactus |
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| Landscape on Santa Fe Island |
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| Lava Lizard |
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| Sea Lion Pup |
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| Our boat - the Solaris |
After dinner the crew had organised some dancing in the
lounge area.
The Captain dressed up as a
pirate and told us that we had not been authorised to board the boat and we had
the choice of walking the gangplank or dancing.
We all chose to dance.
After than
one of the guests called us out because he had seen Galapagos Sharks in the
water around the boat.
There were 5 of
them and they were chasing flying fish, some of whom jumped several feet out of
the water to avoid being caught.
This
went on for a long while and we eventually had to go to bed.
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| Galapagos Shark |
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| Galapagos Shark |
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| Galapagos Shark |
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