DESCRIPTION

Two fantastic islands for wildlife and wild encounters await!

We begin our day with a dry landing on South Plaza Island. This beautiful island is full of both land life and birds, including Swallow-tailed Gulls, Lava Gulls, Frigate birds, Masked boobies, Blue-footed boobies, Pelicans and Red-billed Tropicbirds. It’s easy to wander past a gull’s nest and observe chicks flapping their wings trying to fly.

Created by lava that was uplifted from the sea bed, South Plaza has resident wildlife and diverse plant life that has progressively taken over the island since it was formed. Along its steep cliffs, we find an amazing variety of birds, while on the lower rocky beach, we can observe colonies of sea lions and marine animals.

After a delicious lunch on board we head to Santa Fe Island, also called Barrington Island after British Admiral Samuel Barrington. This small island is formed of uplifted, submarine basaltic lava, formed some 4 million years ago. Much of it is a faulted plateau covered with a forest of giant Opuntia cactae.

As you walk through the dense bushes on the short trail, watch out for the Croton bushes, an endemic plant with an indelible stain. The most spectacular plants are the giant prickly pear cactae, unique to Santa Fe (Opuntia echios barringtonensis). The Galapagos dove is common on the trail, as are painted locusts, often pursued by a snake or two. The park monument is often a vantage point to spy a Galapagos hawk. The highlight is the land iguana, a lighter-colored iguana that is endemic to Santa Fe. Santa Fe is also home to a large Sea Lion nursery.