Puerto Egas (Santiago)

Landing: Wet
Video from Puerto Egas 

After breakfast in Darwins restaurant we were ready for the Long Walk and optional snorkel at Puerto Egas. We did a wet landing south of James Bay at the west side of Santiago. There is a long, lava shoreline where eroded rock formations house an excellent variety of wildlife. Marine iguanas bask in the sun. The tide pools contain many Sally Lightfoot crabs, which attract other types of hunters. At the beach and rocks there were Marine Iguana, Sea Lions and Galapagos Fur Seals. We also saw Blue footed booby, Lava Heron, Oystercatcher and Warblers and inland the Finches and the Galapagos Hawk.

The optional snorkelling allowed for swimming with the sealsand a large number and variety of fish.

James Bay, Puerto Egas
Puerto Egas and Southern James Bay is located northwest of Santiago Island, fascinating place to visit because they had a great volcanic activity in the past. Puerto Egas is one of the most popular sites in the Galapagos Archipelago. It has a beautiful black sand beach where you can see the ruins consist of a salt company and its many inhabitants as the sea lions, chameleons, lizards and lava herons.

Puerto Egas was formerly used for salt mining, which took in large quantities. At South Beach is located Sugarloaf Volcano, which has deposits of volcanic tuff, the same that have favored the formation of black sand beach.
The crater is a saltwater lagoon, the same as in summer dries out and becomes a salt mine. Between 1928 and 1930, a first exploitation of salt, it had no major accomplishments. Then in 1964 there was a new holding, the same as hard a time.

Puerto Egas, was named because of the last operation performed by Egas Héctor company, which failed because the price of salt in the continent was very cheap and did not justify exploitation in the Galapagos. The project was abandoned and left across their infrastructure.
Tourists can take a walk along the coast on a lava flow of ash covered by coastal vegetation, which is usually hawks, doves land, lava lizards, finches, mockingbirds on the shore of the sea was especially low tide and about lots of crabs.