We saw these mystery holes and sand piles all along the beach. We hoped we'd uncover their secret later on. During Darwin's expedition, his ship, the Beagle, anchored here in Espumilla Cove. How fun to think about walking the same places he did. *sigh*
And we're off! We headed inland first. The morning mist we encountered for the first hour or so is the famous garúa. This beach is a turtle nesting area, so as we headed inland, we needed to be especially careful to avoid nests.
Very lovely scenery.
Yes, finches. We also saw long-billed flycatchers in the button mangroves and palo santo trees.
Still going uphill....
And starting to look back....
And to the coast. That's not our ship anchored out there. Amazing little lagoon though, from both runoff and flooding. Seasonal bodies of water are critical habitats for a number of different species. And because there is regular flooding, the salinity and mineral content doesn't vary too strongly, so it stays an important water source for migrating birds (sometimes flamingos) and other creatures.
It started to clear as we started to head back down. Once again, I'm not sure what this is, but the red color was so striking in this landscape.
One of my favorites -- lava lizards!!
I wish trees could talk and tell their stories. Some of them simply must have amazing tales to tell.
Prickly pear cactus. I was playing with my focal lengths, and like the way this one blurred the ocean in the background.
Looking back now to the old volcano.
And across the bay to a "new" lava flow.
Flying blue-footed booby.
Diving blue-footed booby (that white mark halfway between the shore and the boat). They reach incredible speeds and drop straight into the water. I'm not certain I'd ever tire of watching of them. We saw pelicans, cormorants, all kinds of fishing and diving. But the boobies are really dramatic.
Yes, a goat skeleton. Santiago Island was once riddled with introduced goats, and virtually destroyed. The island became a test case for eradication of invasive species, and is now a showpiece of success. Known as Judas goats, dozens of captured and radio-tagged goats unwittingly led the eradication teams to the larger herds. Unfortunately, because of the remoteness of the islands, much of the meat was wasted as no company was willing to make the trek to collect the goats, either to the islands themselves or up along the mountainous terrain to collect them all. However, it's been three years now since the effort was concluded and the island is showing remarkable signs of recovery, as you can see from the above photos. (Goats eat EVERYTHING. I've heard them described as mother nature's lawn mowers. They can destroy vegetation in no time, which in turn proves disastrous for native species of birds, turtles, etc.) They still find a stray goat now and then, and take care of it. After five years, it will be considered successful. Efforts are now underway on other once-inhabited islands.
And as we returned to the beach, we did solve the mystery -- ghost crabs! Those balls are sand that they've excavated to make their holes.
I caught this one digging his hole. Of course, he disappeared inside as I approached.
Just like little kids -- running to the edge of the waves (here, to scavenge tasty bits) but quickly retreating as the waves come in.
Then it was back to the ship for breakfast! We were rather late, but it had been a great morning. We ate up, knowing that snorkeling was next. This was a full day -- in the afternoon, before the late nature walk, we also had a Darwin lecture and the kids learned how to drive the zodiacs. Fun!
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