South Plaza and Santa Fe

South Plaza and Santa Fe :

After breakfast we started with a hike on South Plaza. This island was formed by an upheaval in the ocean floor and is not volcanic in origin. It is here one can find a “weirdo”  iguana. This is a hybrid between a marine Iguana and a land Iguana. It is distinguished by it’s tiger stripes. We also saw several Swallow Tail Gulls, Lava Gulls, Red Billed Tropic Birds, scorpion, Lava lizards, and a newly born sea lion. 

Back on board we had a lecture by Jonathan  on the human inhabitants of the Archipelago Columbus the province of the Galapagos. 

Lunch, an Andean buffet, as we moved to the Island of Santa Fe. It is here one can find the rare and endangered Santa Fe Iguana.  We were lucky to see six. There was a Galapagos Hawk at the end of our hike. 

Before our hike we went snorkeling in a protected lagoon. We saw a couple of rays, sea lions, sgt majors, razor fish, king angels. Not too bad, we did see a turtle as we headed back and the another while waiting to go ashore for the hike. 

After dinner we had a star gazing session, Juan Carlos pointed out several constellations and provided stories behind each one.  Clouds obscured the Southern Cross.