10th November Isla Rabida and Cerro Dragon.

Galapagos mockingbirds

After sailing overnight from the West side of Isabella Island we are now anchored off Isla Rabida (or Jervis). I was wake at 5:30 when they dropped anchor and soon got up to investigate. Looking towards the cove I can see the red beach and some sealions.

Vermilion flyctacher

Phew! Just got back from a fantastic morning, walking along the shore of the cove on Rabida Island and its brackish lagoon and then snorkelling along the rocks. As we disembarked from the pangas we were met with a reception committee of Galapagos Mocking birds. Obviously there was some rivalry as we had a face-off between two families of birds who were more concerned about each other than us. Lola led 5 of us; Tamsin, Gill, Steve, Debbie and myself. We were on the lookout for the Vermillion Fly catcher and possibly a Flamingo. We very quickly realised that there would be no Flamingo on the lagoon. Lola explained that the lagoon had a brown shrimp in it that the Flamingos liked, but if the salt level was not right they would hibernate. As it was the end of the dry season it was likely that they were doing that. Our first bird spot was a shy Galapagos Fly Catcher. At the end of the lake we spotted a flash of red of the male Vermillion Fly Catcher. Tamsin struggled to get a good photo as the bird is almost in constant movement catching flies. As moved away from the lagoon and onto the beach we noticed some Ghost Crabs. One seemed to be very brave as they normally disappear down their tunnels in the sand very quickly, hence the name. It was only as we got very close did it disappear to reappear almost immediately. I spotted that that tunnel already had an occupant!

A daring young bachelor tries his luck

We walked past sleeping female sealions and watched a large male appear from the sea sniff her before settling down himself. Not long after another male appeared and also sniffed the female. This new male was smaller and once the original male realised his presence he was soon chased off back into the sea. The dominant males have little rest during the breeding season as this battle to form  “harems” is constant.

The beautiful Galapagos dove

As we walked back toward our starting point we passed an American Oyster Catcher and a Tattler. The cactus here has soft spikes and not too many of them as it doesn’t need to protect itself from the Land Iguanas. Lola explained that we might see Cactus Finch as we started up an incline. However we did see some small brown finches, but these do not have the correct beak. We also saw the Galapagos Dove which is normally shy, but not today as both the ones we saw seemed to be unfazed by us. At a lookout point we looked down to see a sealion taking a nap, marine iguanas scampering over the rocks and Noddy terns, Brown Pelicans and Nazca Boobys flying overhead. Beyond the ocean looked slightly turquoise and inviting which is just as well as we headed back to the beach to get changed for snorkelling, or in Gills case out on the glass bottomed boat.

Razor Surgeon fish

Almost as soon as you move away from the surf line the fish appear beneath you. There were large shoals of different types of small fish and at some point a shoal of large fish with grey bodies and yellow tails. Diving down to look at some of the larger fish didn’t seem to bother them too much. There are fish of so many shapes and sizes and colours. Apparently I was so preoccupied with taking pictures that I missed the sealion going passed me – twice! As we moved along the coast we started to realise that the current was pulling us along faster and faster. Not wanting to end up in Tahiti we turned back towards the shore. Once back on the beach we were ready to go back to the ship having had a very pleasant morning.

Greater flamingos

Over lunch the ship raised anchor and headed for Cerro Dragon, or Dragon Mountain. This is on Santa Cruz Island (Indefatigable). Landing on a sandy beach was a surprise seeing as the island is volcanic. The sand is made up over millions of years by small sea crustaceans and is very white. The initial path was quite difficult as the path goes across lumps of lava, however just before the end of this you go around the edge a brackish lake, not unlike the one on Rabida except this one had 5 Flamingos on it. These are Caribbean Greater Flamingos although they only migrate between the Galapagos Islands. They number a max of 2,000 birds and can only assume that the there are quite a few lakes around with Brown Shrimp in them to support the other 1,995! Also on the lake were Black necked Stilt, Whimbrels and a kind of Sand Piper(?) Just as we were moving away from the Lake we spotted some animals on the far side of the lake. These are goats that have escaped from Santa Cruz (town/city) which is on the south of the island. Ramiro, our guide was not happy with this and almost started on a rant and would rather see tourist/the government/people in general eradicated from the Galapagos (okay I exaggerate!) as there are also Donkeys on the island all competing with the Land Iguanas. Just after saying this we saw piles of Donkey poo!

Opuntia cacti

The rest of the walk to the top of Cerro Dragon we passed lots of Opuntia cacti. These differ from the previous island in that they are coated in stiff spikes, which look almost beard-like, to protect themselves from the Land Iguanas. As the cacti age and get taller, the lower spines fall off to reveal a thick woody trunk which is impregnable. As we reached the top of Cerro Dragon we were presented with a lovely view back toward the bay and the boat or south towards Santa Cruz. Ramiro pointed out an area that the goats have decimated and I can understand his concern about the goats getting back into the habitat as there was an area of about 100m in diameter that is almost stripped of vegetation.  As we started our decent back to the ship we spotted a Cactus Finch, and then another – common as muck ;^). As we walked back around the lake we spotted more Whimbrels landing on the water and enjoyed the setting sun highlighting a few of the flamingos so that they almost seemed to glow.