Daphne Island

We started the afternoon with lunch in Darwin restaurant and at 4:00 PM the snorkelling gear was distributed t deck 6 - Fins, wetsuits, mask, snorkels and snorkeling vest.
We left Baltra at and headed for a circumnavigation of Daphne Minor and Daphne Major, located in the sea like a volcanic cone, north of Santa Cruz.
The cliffs along the coast is home to sea lions, pelicans and blue-footed boobies.
The crater is an important breeding area for blue-footed bobbie and there is a very large bird life on the island.

Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to visit Daphne - so we had to see the island and wildlife from the ship's deck. The naturalists were on the decks to point out highlights and answer any questions.

By late afternoon, there was a briefing on the activities in the morning and at 20, there was dinner. A single glass of wine in the Discovery Lounge before bed.

Daphne Major  and Minor is two small islands just north of Santa Cruz Island in the archipelago Colon, commonly known as the Galápagos Islands. It consists of a tuff crater, devoid of trees, whose rim rises 120 metres above the sea. An intensive study of Darwin's Finches was conducted here by biologists Peter and Rosemary Grant over a period of 20 years.


Daphne Minor is fairly eroded and not accessible to tourists, although the surrounding waters are very popular dive site. The underwater geology of Daphne is very interesting, with recesses and steep cliffs, and the possibility of seeing sharks (white-tipped, Galápagos, and occasionally hammerheads), sea turtles, or rays is high.