Rábida and Santa Cruz (north), 29 Sep 2017

Friday, September 29, 2017 found us at anchor off Rábida, the smallest island on our itinerary. It is known for its red sand beaches. We started with a nature walk. There were starfish washed up on shore:

Starfish

Pretty morning glories:

Morning Glory

Quite a few lava lizards:

Lava Lizard

Lava Lizard

And we got our best look at the Galápagos Flycatcher:

Galápagos Flycatcher

Galápagos Flycatcher

Galápagos Flycatcher

Galápagos Flycatcher

Galápagos Flycatcher

We made our way to the top of a hill where we took a group portrait:

Leysa, John, Pete, Barb, Jill, Sarah, Suzanne, Ross, Fabricio, Francois, Cedric

On the way back down we passed by a salt lake with birds, including this White-cheeked Pintail Duck:

White-cheeked Pintail Duck

As usual, the mockingbirds kept pace. This one was rather cheeky:

Galápagos Mockingbird

On the beach we saw a beautiful family of Oystercatchers:

Oystercatchers

Oystercatcher

Oystercatcher (male?)

Oystercatcher (juvenile)

Oystercatcher (female?)

We returned to the ship, then put on our wetsuits and headed back out for snorkeling:

Crewmember, Roxane, Natasha, Barb, Suzanne, Francois, Cedric, Panga pilot

I saw my first-ever Hawksbill Turtle:

I got a nice picture of Jill snorkeling:

Jill

I was enchanted by this school of fish:

And I saw some Garden Eels:

A sea lion swam by after playing with Sarah:

Returning to the ship, we got a tour of the bridge from Captain Gonzalez:

We then proceeded to Black Turtle Cove on Santa Cruz island.  There we took a panga tour through the mangroves:

Sofia paddling

Sofia, Marie, Jill

The Mangrove Labyrinth

We saw various birds, including pelicans:

Brown Pelican

Eagle Rays splashing around:

Eagle Ray splashing

Eagle Ray 

Eagle Ray

Green Sea Turtles:

Green Sea Turtle

Boobys and egrets flying by:

Booby

Egret

And a few different herons:

Heron (lava?)

Lava Heron

We spotted this one catching its dinner:

Lava Heron (?)

Heron catching dinner

The heron never let go of the branch while it dove down!

We took our pangas back to the ship:

And then we had our briefing for the next days' tour - Giant Tortoises in the highlands of Santa Cruz:

Previous: Fernandina and Isabela
Next: Santa Cruz (south)
Back to Index Page