Isla Santiago + Isla Rábida
Isla Santiago (also known as San Salvador) is recognizable by its varied landscape of black sand beaches and lava fields. Here you can see beautiful examples of lava flows: sharp and fragile A’ā lava and smooth winding Pahoehoe flows. Erosion by sea and wind grinds the black lava into black sand, creating this unusual beach.
A’ā lava is a type of basaltic lava flow with a rough crumbly surface consisting of sharp, spiky lava blocks called “clinkers.” It is thicker and stickier than Pahoehoe lava, causing it to flow more slowly, but it has a dense hot core. As it cools, it forms impassable irregular terrain.
Pahoehoe lava is a type of fluid basaltic lava with low stickiness that is known for its smooth rope-like (ropy) or wavy (billowy) surface structures. It is the “smooth” counterpart to rough A’ā lava and can travel long distances, often in lava tunnels, because it cools and solidifies less than other lava types.
This morning we went to James Bay and Puerto Egas on the northwest coast of Isla Santiago.
Puerto Egas was once the site of a salt mine, but today it’s known for its black sand beach, grottoes, and a colony of fur seals. A leisurely trail takes you through the otherworldly terrain of black lava deposits to the grottoes. This is where you’ll spot the timid fur seals, easily distinguished from the sea lions by their lustrous fur coats, resting on the rocks or paddling around the grottoes.
There is a natural lava bridge.
Puerto Egas is also home to the remarkable Galapagos hawks and the swift Galapagos lava lizards. Furthermore, there are large populations of marine iguanas.
South of the beach is Sugarloaf Volcano, which has deposits of volcanic tuff, the same that helped the formation of the black sand beach.
El Cráter is just north of this site, it has a saltwater lagoon, which during the summer dry season becomes a salt mine. Between 1928 and 1930 was the first exploitation of salt; but the efforts did not last long. Then again in 1964 a new attempt was made that lasted for some time.
After the walk we returned to a black sand beach where we could snorkel.
After lunch we navigated to our next destination: Isla Rábida.
Isla Rábida is a small volcanic island known for its striking red sand beaches and cliffs. Behind the red sand beach is a coastal lagoon and you can walk a loop trail. The approximate distance of the trail is 1.1 kilometers.
The red color of the rocks and sand on the beach is due to the high iron content in the lava and the very porous volcanic material, which has acted as an oxidizing agent with the help of environmental factors (rain, salt water and sea breeze),.
They had said that snorkeling is a must after the visit to Isla Rábida. So that’s what we did. Along the rocky coastline we can saw lots of fish, sea lions and even white tip reef sharks. At first we found it a scary to snorkel above the sharks. But the sharks stayed deep below us and were swimming in circles.