After refueling, both for the humans and the yacht, we headed out to our next stop, still on Santa Cruz Island, Cerro Dragon (Dragon Hill).
After relaxing until we reached our destination, we did some snorkeling off the pangas.
Before heading back on board to refresh. After a short break, we headed on board the pangas and did dry landing at Cerro Dragon.
This is Dragon Hill the namesake of the area.
We did a nice hike/walk which got to enjoy the diversity of the Island. Both Marine Iguanas…..
And Land Iguanas….
We were taught to tell the difference. Marine Iguanas have blunt noses and long rudder like tails. Land Iguanas have that yellow-brown color, pointed noses, and some major claws.
If you see an Iguana “blowing snot”; it’s a marine iguana which has a special gland that allows it to “sneeze” out excess salt they get from ocean grazing.
Land Iguanas have sharp teeth and a really tough mouth which allows them to eat prickly pear cactus whole without injury!
It quite picturesque.
We ran into this band of Land Iguanas on the trail. You can’t interfere with wildlife, so we just slowly strolled down the trail.
We were told that in the mid-70’s the Land Iguana population was almost wiped out by packs of feral dogs. This initiated a program by the Charles Darwin Foundation and Galapagos National Park to reintroduce land iguanas and ensure their survival which was a success.
As we continued to walk, this Galapagos Mockingbird decided to stroll down the trail with us!
It displayed no fear, no hesitation as it “joined” the walk! Amazing!
We came across two lagoons, which sometimes houses Flamingos, but none were present on this day.
Even though there were no Flamingos; there were interesting things to see…..
Always under the watchful eyes of “you know who”!
We were back on board by 6pm. After a break while we set off to our next destination, I headed to the deck to have a “cold one”. I enjoyed this American Ale Brewed in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island.
Low IBU, very clean and refreshing. A great beer to have while watching the Sunset.
Soon after, we had our destination briefing for the next day and then it was dinner time. Like I mentionecd in my previous posts, every night was different….we started really gaining an appreciation for the efforts of the kitchen.
On this evening, we enjoyed the Seared Duck Breast, though not so much the Citrus and Grape Sauce and also the tender and super sweet-oceany Grilled Prawns with Garlic Aioli.
I think this was when the Missus and I really started getting into the rhythm of things onboard.
Just in time for our next stop; Fernandina Island!
Thanks for stopping by!