Today we arrived at the north coast of the Island Santa Cruz, where we visited the charming beach “Las Bachas”. It´s one of the most important nesting beaches for sea turtles. The nests were already abandoned, but you still could see the tracks, the turtles left behind. On that island usually you also can encounter flamingos, but our group wasn´t lucky on that day.  Therefore we saw on our walk bahama ducks, sea lions, herons and marine iguanas. It was truly impressive from how close we had each day the opportunity to observe these wild animals. After spending the whole morning on the beach, we went back on board at midday. After taking a delicious lunch there was some time to relax. In the late afternoon we explored the Black Turtle Cove. This red mangrove lagoon on Santa Cruz has no landing sites, that´s why you go there by panga rides. Besides being a famous location to observe mating sea turtles, the calm lagoon provides a nursery for different kinds of sharks and rays. Before entering to the lagoon our guide turned out the loud panga engine and instead he used the paddles to move around. In this way you don´t disturb the animals in their natural habitat and you increase your chances to see them. This measure is really successful, because after entering to the lagoon it didn´t take long and we discovered the first turtles, followed by a group of eagle rays. Before going into another section of the lagoon we spotted as the highlight of the present day a numerousness group of white tip reef sharks. Impressing situation like the sharks were passing by directly next to us. Furthermore the view and the spirit of this unique natural environment is just fascinating.(Check out the pictures and videos…) In the evening we could enjoy a scenic sunset, before we concluded our day in a relaxed atmosphere.

White tip reef sharks just next to us:

Live impressions of sea turtles around the panga: