Galapagos day 5

It's Wednesday, June 1 and we have a spectacular sunrise this morning.

We begin our day by going ashore to Las Bachas, a sandy white-coral beach that is a major egg-laying site for sea turtles on Santa Cruz Island.

We immediately see the tracks in the sand made by the turtles. 

Each female digs a hole in the sand above the tide line and lays an average of 250 eggs in a chamber she has scooped out of the sand.  Incubation is approximately 90 days.

There have been hatchings but we didn't see any baby turtles--just tiny tracks in the sand and some egg shells.  

The birds were circling the nests while we were there and a few times we saw a bird pluck what would be a baby turtle from the nest after it hatched.

The name Bachas refers to the remains of landing craft left here at the end of World War II and buried under the sandy shore.

We hiked to a lagoon and saw marine iguanas, a flamingo, and other wading birds in the super saline lagoon.

In the afternoon, we go to Rabida Island, known as Red Beach, due to a lot of iron, and we have the opportunity to snorkel again.

Tomorrow we will see the giant tortoises!....