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Although Santa Fe is one of the more ancient islands in Galapagos, it is still very distinct, much like most islands in this incredible location. For example, Galapagos Hawks on Santa Fe Island add to its uniqueness. We have to leave this island alone by 10:00 a.m. Because of this, we started our operation a little earlier this morning than usual so that we all have as much time as possible to take in all Santa Fe has to offer regarding wonders.
Mr. Blue Sky
We’re hiking around the island as our first-morning activity. We have to board a dinghy to travel from the open ocean into a little bay with shallow water to get there because of the size of the Santa Cruz II expedition vessel. With its vibrant color palette consisting of the following, this small bay provides one of the most breathtaking views in the Galapagos: Blues, greens, turquoise, and every other color in between are surrounded by the dark black rocks on either side of the bay.
The bright cream sand along the beach’s edge is topped off by a layer of vibrantly green vegetation, which is topped off by the usually apparent and brilliant blue sky above. Yes, this site resembles the postcard you are picturing in your mind!
A Good Year
Usually, this magnificent bay is teeming with life. Seeing the numerous Galapagos sea lions that cover and line the rocks hardly takes a minute. While some of them are just napping in their preferred locations, most of the time, there are plenty of young ones playing among the other dozing grownups. Whenever we approach the group of juvenile sea lions closely enough, there appears to be a courageous and curious one that, lucky for us, can’t resist taking a closer look at humans and entertaining us by jokingly swimming around our panga (dinghy).
But during times like this, our naturalist guides must caution our visitors not to approach the animals too closely. Our capacity to understand how fleeting this place is is often clouded by the joy of being so near to these extraordinary animals!
Galapagos Hawks on Santa Fe Island: A Galapagos WOW Moment
The true goal of our hikes on the island is to search for the Santa Fe land iguana, a kind of indigenous land iguana inhabiting the island. But on this particular day, the Galapagos Hawks on Santa Fe Island—another one of our BIG15 species—were the species that stole the show! We could only locate one small one sitting atop a shrub for a while, but eventually, we discovered they were all around us! On Santa Fe Island, we counted ten Galapagos hawks, all of whom were young.
Some were flying at very high altitudes, some were perched on the rocks, possibly in search of a snack of lava lizard, and one of them put on a fantastic display for us. The final one flew over our heads and landed on a monument further along the trail ahead. The statue was gracious enough to remain there and let us all get up close and personal as we approached it. The hawk and humans were quite interested in each other, and for a while, I couldn’t tell if the hawk was observing us or our guests.
The highlight of the visit: while we were preparing to take a picture of one of our guests standing next to the hawk, another young hawk landed on the same rock and chased the first one away, causing it to crash-land on the floor not too far from the couple who was posing! The hawk that had collapsed then made the unimaginable decision to take off, swooping through (or in between) the pair in an embrace. Our visitors’ legs were separated by around 20 centimeters or 10 inches! But the hawk, as if it were nothing, managed to soar across that gap without coming into contact with either of them!
Take the Santa Cruz II Galapagos trip to see Galapagos hawks for yourself on Santa Fe Island! On our Eastern Islands Galapagos trip, we visit the island of Santa Fe aboard this top-notch adventure vessel!
