Day 3 - SANTIAGO - James Bay/Puerto Egas in the morning (including snorkeling). Playa Espumilla/Salt Mine/Buccaneer Cove in the afternoon.
SANTIAGO – James Bay/Puerto Egas is home to Fur Seal Grotto - not only a beautiful site, but this is your only chance to get close to the endemic fur seals. Some of the best tide-pooling is also here, drawing a wonderful variety of shorebirds and seabirds, with yellow-crowned night herons and American Oystercatchers being the most commonly seen. Inland you might have a chance to see painted locusts, grasshoppers, and possibly even the Galápagos snake. Galápagos flycatchers and Galápagos hawks are also common on the inland trail. The snorkelling here is in shallower water, getting you closer to the smaller sea life. • Playa Espumilla is a golden sandy beach where sea turtles nest, and ghost crabs and wading birds abound. Beyond the mangroves that frame the beach lie saline lagoons; further in you can find some of the 10 finches that inhabit Santiago, along with the vermillion and broad-billed flycatchers. • Following our hike we will explore Buccaneer Cove from the yacht. This is one of the places where Charles Darwin went ashore - a site historically used by sailors to clean ships, hunt meat, and collect firewood and water. Impressive tuff cliffs frame the southern cove, while eroded cinder to the north has been carved by time into fanciful shapes.
