Arriving at white sandy beach on Isla Santa Fe, we were greeted by the sound of sea lions calling out to each other whilst frolicking in the shallows amongst the rocks. As usual, the antics of the sea lions caught all of our attention with a combination of phones, small and SLR cameras all aimed at different groups to try to capture their individual behaviours.
One of the consequences of the weather was the debris that washed up onto a normally pristine beach, which had the whole group of scouring among the twigs and shells for bits of plastic and other refuse to remove off the island.
The walk away from the beach took us into opuntia cacti country, where yellow tinged land iguanas co-exists with sea lions and lava lizards. The presence of cacti set against a beautiful blue sea with iguanas and sea lions was not something that I expected before coming to the Galapagos. In the distance we spotted two blue-footed boobies who were clinging to the rocks and showing off their bright blue feet – one of the iconic animals of the Galapagos.
We spent the afternoon on Plaza Sur, although small at only 0.13 square kilometres in area; there was a strong concentration of opuntia cacti which seemed to be shorter than those on Isla Santa Fe. On the trail, we saw the sea lions of the ‘Gentleman’s Club’ who are not the dominant male and each seemed to have their own patch on the cliff top with a stunning view of the sea below. The walk up probably took us about 20 minutes on foot, I wonder how long the sea lion would have taken either by sea or by land. We also spotted red-billed tropic birds, nesting red footed and Nazca boobies and sea lions all nursing their young.
The journey to the next island was a rough one with the boat seeming to hit the top of the waves and bounce upon each wave, luckily I managed to stay in bed and sleep despite the sound of the engine and the movement unlike our guide (who managed to fall out of the bed twice!)
Travel date: 27 December 2018
Reflections 