Plazas & Punta Carrión

Land excursion

The landing onto Plazas for the land excursion is dry, with the dock often taken over by large male Sea Lions (Zalophus wollebaeki) and their young. Guests can watch their guides shoo away the animals by gently clapping. Once the coast is clear and there’s no danger to the sealions, step carefully over the white guano and crab-covered rocks. As your eyes get used to the glare, you’ll spot yellow Land Iguanas (Conolophus subcristatus), one of our smallest subspecies, under the shade the Opuntia trees (different species and varieties).

The trail then leads up a gentle incline to a steep cliff. The vegetation along the way belonging to the arid and littoral zones; notice Saltbush, Leatherleaf, and Thorn Scrub, sat alongside the treeless side of the trail covered with a mat of endemic Sea Purslane (Sesuvium portulacastrum), the succulent leaves of which turn red from May to December. The similar looking Galapagos Purslane (Portulaca howelli) has yellow flowers and is relished by the vegetarian Land Iguanas.

Plazas is a good place to discover Darwin’s finches; as the Medium Ground Finch (Geospiza fortis), the Small Ground Finch (Geospiza fuliginosa), and the Cactus Ground Finch (Geospiza scandens) are all resident. The cliff at Plazas is surprisingly windy, and a great place for Red-billed Tropic Birds, Swallow-tailed Gulls (Creagrus furcatus), Brown Pelicans, and the odd Frigate Bird. The trail you will walk at Plazas Sur arrives at a well-worn platform of polished lava marking a ‘bachelor colony’ of mainly elderly male sea lions who have lost their territories. While heading back down towards the sea, look out for migratory waders such as Sanderlings, Knots, Plovers and the Kelp Gull.

Snorkeling

The snorkeling excursion is at Punta Carrión, the most prominent point in the northeast of Santa Cruz, at the end of the channel that separates Santa Cruz Island from Baltra Island. Depth here is about 12 m and the bottom is rocky, meaning that the water is usually very clear. Visitors can expect to see White-tip reef sharks, Eagle rays and stingrays, scorpion fish, sea turtles, lea lions and different reef fishes.