Our first day was supposed to be spent exploring Genovesa Island, famous for the abundance of birds and the Prince Philip’s Steps. The island however, was closed due to a outbreak of Avian Flu. So, the Evolve instead headed first to Santa Fe Island.
I woke early and got a nice cup of coffee on the deck. I started getting a hint of “who ran things” around these parts!
After which we got our gear on and boarded the Zodiacs.
And we headed to Barrington Bay. Santa Fe Island used to be named Barrington Island after Admiral Samuel Barrington. During our briefing the night before, we were told that the island is considered the oldest by many at over 4.5 million years old, and there’s a specific species of Land Iguana only found on Santa Fe Island.
Fabrizio, the Naturalist in our Zodiac mentioned that there’s a large colony of Sea Lions in the bay and also pointed out the first Blue Footed Boobies of the trip!
They are so cool looking, huh?
We did our wet landing and being told that there’s a large colony of Sea Lions in Barrington Bay was a bit of an understatement!
You are not allowed to touch any of the wildlife and not approach and try to stay 2 meters away from them. It was amazing to visit a place where the wildlife has no fear of humans.
The sea lions would look at you and then “bust a pose”.
And having no fear of hoo-mans meant that if you weren’t paying attention, sometimes they’d catch you in some interesting situations.
We started our nature walk and Fabrizio quickly pointed out some lizards.
These were Santa Fe Lava Lizards. The ones with the bright red throats are the females.
The island is small, just 24 square kilometers and yet, it is an amazing place to visit.
We were amazed to see so much cactus here.
Apparently, there’s a specific species of cactus that is endemic to this area.
Walking along the trail we came across a Mockingbird. It was just not phased by our presence. This is of a distinct sub-species endemic to Santa Fe Island.
Can’t you just see how Darwin would have been affected by this?
And then Fabrizio pointed what we’d been waiting to see.
This is Conolophus Pallidus, more widely known as the Santa Fe Land Iguana. Endemic to Santa Fe Island……which covers just about 9 square miles! Amazing!
It just stared at us; knowing it ran the place. You know, like “get off my front lawn?”
It was so amazing to see creatures totally not fearful of humans. This male Lava Lizard was doing “push ups”, trying to attract a possible mate.
We boarded our Zodiac and headed back to Evolve, where lunch was waiting for us.
Tables set, the Concierge, Joselyn, introduced us to the Chef, and lunch.
Which we enjoyed.
After which we headed back to our room for a break before our next stop.
The filling was fairly tender, not overly sweet, very classic seasoning. The regular bao was a bit too wet and doughy. The "Black Bao", obviously made with activated charcoal had an almost gritty-crunchy texture, though the flavor was less sweet, but not substantially different from the "regular" one.
The Peking Duck was "almost there". The fat had been nicely rendered, but the skin was still a bit rubbery. The flesh was very tender, the flavors spot on, good gamey-earthy notes, five spice, a hint of sweetness. The dan bing weren't up to the task and tore easily. Still, the duck was not bad at all.
