Galápagos - Santa Cruz

Last night after supper we went to stand at the back of the boat to see the sharks. They are attracted by the light on the boat and it was incredible to watch them hunting for fish so close to the boat, you could see them so clearly. We also saw a sea lion and a shark both going for the same fish, it was incredible how they are both so sleek and fast in their own way. Then looking upwards, once our eyes had adjusted to the darkness, we saw the entire Milky Way and all the stars above us - it was stunningly beautiful, I don’t think I have ever seen the Milky Way so clearly before.

This morning after an early breakfast we went for a hike at Cerro Dragon on Santa Cruz Island. It was a hot morning with no wind. We were lucky enough to see many Darwin finches, mockingbirds and the elusive land iguana. They are not so easy to find as they are inland creatures and often lie under a bush, and as you cannot deviate off the path you have to be lucky enough to find one lying near the path. Land iguanas are bigger than marine iguanas, they can grow to over one meter long. They eat cactus fruit and pads and there are many cactus on this island. We did find a few, and this was the best shot I was able to get through the foliage. We could not move closer or move any foliage out the way.

Back to the boat for a coffee, and then the boys went off for the last snorkelling adventure on this trip, around Guy Fawkes island which is deep water where they saw to large rays and sharks. After seeing those huge sharks last night I was not so keen to go swimming with them! We see many rays very close to the beach on the waters edge but out there you can find the larger mantra rays.

While they were snorkelling I went to a lecture on Darwin’s finches. The lectures have been very good, there are two a day but today there were three as they realised not everyone wanted to snorkel with sharks.

After lunch we went to Las Bachas on Santa Cruz Island, where we did another hike. We are enjoying the physical activity here, unlike when we went on safari and one tends to just sit all day in the jeep with no exercise. The beach looked tropical with white fine sand and turquoise water. I saw a marine iguana swimming, many frigate birds and we saw more flamingoes. Both flamingoes and penguins are in low numbers on the islands, the latter getting much reduced by El Niño in 1998.

Tomorrow is our last full day as on Saturday we start travelling back to Lima