Lava tubes and amazing snorkeling

Day 5 - Santiago Island; Puerto Egas, Espumilla Beach

The night's passage had been quite rough so we were all a little tired for the first disembarkation at Puerto Egas.  It was a coastal stroll with more marine iguanas, a little more red coloured this time  as the algae is red as well as green here.  There was a fleeting visit from a Galapagos Hawk.

Beautiful Galapagos hawk

Levitating yellow bird

More marine iguanas and crabs

Oyster catchers

Some kind of heron

Fur sealion

Tourist bird: khaki coloured body, blue eyes and red legs

A little way along the beach there were the most beautiful lava tunnel rock pools.  The water was a divine colour with the white sand on the bottom.  Hiding in amongst these rocks were fur sealions, looking shaggier but similar to their sleeker cousins.  They are nocturnal hunters, so rest up during the day.

Lava tube complete with marine iguanas: snorkeling

The interior of the island

The snorkel after this walk was one of the best on the trip.  We had been in the water about ten minutes, admiring the abundance of colourful fish, when along came some playful sealions.  One youngster in particular was very intrigued by us and swum in amongst us, doing lovely acrobatics for us.  It was very special to be so close and really see them in their element.


A white tipped reef shark was spotted, but we didn't see it, though we did spot the small manta ray.


All of us were a little heat dazzled and tired for the second landing at Espumilla Beach.  A beautiful beach, inhabited by ghost crabs, awaited us.  Ghost crabs get the name from their habit of scuttling quickly away and disappearing down their holes,  a habit that kept us all amused for some minutes.  The freshwater lagoon behind the button mangroves had dried up, so wildlife was scarce.  Back on the beach the boobies put on a skillful diving demonstration, sometimes in formations of three or five at a time.  The pelicans joined in, but were considerably less graceful.

Galapagos mockingbird, these were very common and very interested in what we were doing.

 

Ben taking photos of the ghost crabs

The elusive crabs themselves

The second snorkel of the day I spotted a white tipped reef shark sleeping on the bottom, plus some skeptical sealions that didn't want to play. The fish were particularly impressive and abundant here, large schools of little blue and orange fish, quite unconcerned by us.