Santa Cruz Island 2

This expedition stuff is tiring! Today was another 5:30 a.m. wake up call for a photo hike at Cerro Dragon on another part of Santa Cruz Island. We were hoping to see some of the land iguanas that live there. The population had been decimated by wild dogs and cats introduced by sailors. A breeding program combined with an effort to remove the invasive animals has led to a rebound in the iguana population. 

Our landing on the island was interesting in that we started out on wet lava rocks which turned out to be quite slippery.

I survived that nicely but as we were photographing a stand of cacti in the morning light, I brushed against one of them and ended up with a pincushion effect on my arm. Luckily, they pulled out easily and didn't leave marks. It was another long, hot hike but very much worth it due to all of the great photo opportunities.

The land iguanas are able to eat cactus due to very hard skin around their mouths. 

We also saw some marine iguanas on beach. 

There was a quick turn around once we got back to the ship to go snorkelling at a nearby rocky islet. The sea was quite calm when we left but the wind kicked up soon after we were in the water making for some larger waves to go with the current. We saw some interesting coral features but I ended up being pushed onto one by a large wave. A minor scrape or two ensued. The guides had us out of the water a bit earlier than scheduled as the winds increased and the ride back was very bouncy. 

I like this shot because it gives an idea of what the waves were like. This is what I was doing when the wave got me. 

This is called a chocolate chip cookie starfish.

This is one of the sharks that we saw while snorkelling. I'm not sure what I would have done if it had turned towards us!