Sesuvium carpet
Seasonal colours.
Bernard Gagnon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Leon Brocard from London, UK — CC BY 2.0 · Pete from USA — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC BY-SA 4.0
A small crescent-shaped island of only about 16 hectares, yet one of the most colourful in the Galápagos. Its ground is carpeted with creeping Sesuvium, green in the rainy season and orange, red and purple in the dry season, under tall prickly-pear cactus trees. Beneath the cacti, yellow land iguanas wait for fruit and pads to fall, and rare hybrid iguanas live here too, from land and marine iguanas mating, because their territories meet on this island alone. The trail runs to the cliffs of the south coast, where red-billed tropicbirds and swallow-tailed gulls wheel above the waves. On the low rocks lives a large sea lion colony of close to a thousand animals. It can only be visited by licensed boat with a national park guide, and operators price the trips. Trips leave from Santa Cruz and often pair the island with a snorkelling stop. Keep at least two metres from the animals, and never touch or feed them.
Seasonal colours.
Under the cacti.
Seabirds.
Off the east coast of Santa Cruz Island
In the dry season, roughly June to November, when the Sesuvium turns orange and red.