Puerto Egas & Sombrero Chino

We started out with a very early morning hike on Santiago Island at Puerto Egas. This is the site of a former salt mining operation by the Egas family. They abandoned the site in the 1960s leaving a few ruined buildings behind. 

We landed on a beach with a couple sets of tracks showing where sea turtles had come ashore to lay eggs in the night. In the calm waters of James Bay blue footed boobies and pelicans hunted by hovering and then dive bombing the schools of fish below. Here we saw an interesting behavior of the brown noddies. When a pelican would dive and make a catch, it was swarmed by noddies trying to steal a bite. the noddies were all trying to land on the pelicans head.

The trail wound along the rocky coast where we encountered lava herons and striped herons stalking the tide pools for breakfast. There were the ubiquitous Sally Lightfoot crabs decoratively placed on the black rocks. We met an American oyster catcher defending its nest from a couple of herons. Nest here means a sandy depression on the ground holding a cream colored egg with black and gray speckles. At the end of the trail we came to a colony of Galapagos fur seals. We saw a few from a distance on Isabela, but here they we resting on the rocks a few feet away and perfectly unconcerned by our presence. Despite the name, these are not seals, but a species of sea lion. They are quite a bit smaller than the sea lions we have been seeing with a shorter snout and impossibly precious whiskers. We spent a long time watching them play in the natural channel cut into the basaltic shoreline. 

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Sombrero Chino was another extraordinary experience! Its name means Chinese hat and it is an eroded volcanic cone just off the coast of Santiago Island. Our snorkel took us through a narrow passage between Sombrero Chino and Santiago. The water was wonderfully clear and we had excellent views of our favorite fishes. There were playful sea lions rocketing through the water around us. At one cleft in the rocks several Galapagos penguins were perched watching us. Some were in the water with us, no doubt laughing at our ungainly swimming compared to their grace. 

After our snorkel and lunch we went for a hike around the shore of Sombrero Chino. Sea lions basked on the rocks and lava lizards scurried across the path. There were a few marine iguanas, but not the large piles we had seen on Fernandina. On the seaward side of the islet waves thundered against the rocks throwing spray high into the air. Another perfect day in these extraordinary isles.