San Cristóbal: Cerro Brujo

Friday, 13 July (Part IV)

From the site of our town visit at the southern tip of San Cristóbal, the Xpedition repositioned to Cerro Brujo (Witch Hill) for a beach visit on the northwest coast of the island.

As I mentioned in the Las Tijeretas post, when Darwin arrived in the archipelago aboard the Beagle, San Cristóbal was the first island where he landed.  Captain Fitzroy, the master of the Beagle, is not mentioned as coming ashore at Las Tijeretas, but he apparently did so at Cerro Brujo, where he climbed to the top of the tuff cone to scout out the waters for hidden reefs.

THE ARROW POINTS TO OUR afternoon LANDING LOCATION ON SAN CRISTÓBAL.
[MAP COURTESY OF THE GALAPAGOSISLANDS.COM WEBSITE]

Cerro Brujo (left) is a tuff cone that was named for its shape, which is said to resemble
a witch’s hat … perhaps it did at one time.  We landed on the tiny patch of white sand next
to the hill; most of our time, however, was on the longer stretch of beach in the center.

There were two activities offered as usual — beach walk and swim, or zodiac ride and beach.  Well, we picked the walk, thinking it would be similar to the beach walks we did on the other islands.  What a laugh!  The walk wasn’t much of a walk at all — just a couple hundred yards from the tiny patch of beach next to the hill, around some small lava formations, to the longer, crescent shaped beach.  No wonder our naturalist said we didn’t have to put on our trail hikers!  This is one wet landing and beach walk where our water shoes, had we worn them, would have sufficed as footwear.

This is pretty much the extent of the walk.

In the absence of water shoes, I’m glad we put on our trail hikers; there are some
sharp rocks poking out of the sand that could have made for some ‘ouch moments’.

We were told that the beach offers good snorkeling.  Since all gear was turned into the naturalists yesterday, most people just swam in the beautiful, tropical waters.  Those who had brought their own snorkeling gear, however, took advantage of this last chance to check out the marine critters.  Mui was amongst the latter group.

The shallow water was heated by the sun that was making the afternoon brutally hot until a gentle breeze came up to cool things down a bit.  With his snorkeling skin adding a light layer of protection, Mui stayed in the water for nearly two hours.  He didn’t take his underwater video camera on this occasion, so I have to take his word that he did indeed swim with another sea turtle and saw plenty of colorful fish.

This is where we get to spend our afternoon!

For me, the best part of the afternoon was that we were free to roam at will, though we were not allowed to go past the vegetation and over the dunes.  No problem; there was plenty to keep me busy.  After slathering on a double layer of sunblock, I headed off with the intention of walking all the way to the far side of the crescent of coral sand beach.  Distracted by a lot of “sit-and-enjoy encounters” with wildlife, however, I only made it halfway before my watch said it was time to turn back.

Kicker Rock and the Xpedition from the beach at Cerro Brujo; the small boat on
the far left brought a zodiac-load of passengers to share the beach with us.

My favorite time on the beach was when I sat to watch the ghost crabs.  I spent at least 30 minutes with them and was never bored.  They were scurrying about by the hundreds, and unlike on the other islands, they allowed me to get quite close.  Of course, it helped that I took my time and inched my way to a comfortable distance.  Funny little things, moving hither and thither in every direction on their five pairs of legs, one set of which is tipped with claws.

Ghost crabs are also known as sand crabs; they are common shore crabs and can be
found in many countries.  They were given the “ghost” moniker, because they emerge
from their deep burrows mostly at night.  These crabs obviously didn’t get the memo!

The Ghost crab has large black eyes that are supported on stalks, helping it To see
in any direction.  The males have horn-like protrusions that help identify them as such.

What was really fascinating to see was how these crabs fed on the sand.  Called deposit-feeding, they use their claws to scoop up and showel sand into their mouths.  Extracting the nutrients from the bits of algae in the sand, they allow the sand to ooze back out of their mouths, forming small sand balls, which form a trail as they move and eat at lightning speed.

Note the claws of this deposit-feeding ghost-crab — one is larger than the other.
The claws are used for feeding and digging burrows.

I was debating getting Mui out of the water — if I could get his attention — so he could videotape the feeding action.  Lucky for him, I remembered that my G12 has video capability so I decided to give it a try.  Check out the 40-second clip below; I think you’ll find it fascinating.

What can I say; I’m easily entertained!

I eventually pulled myself away from the crabs to continue my way down the beach — only to stop and sit with a marine iguana that was feeding at the edge of the surf where it could take advantage of the sunshine to keep itself warm.

Going to great lengths to get into the crevices to feed.

It’s so nice to just sit and have the wildlife come to me!

A 20-second clip of the marine iguana feeding; the videographer was otherwise
occupied, so you’ll have to forgive the quality of my amateurish attempt.

I made a lot of great remembrances this afternoon, which will remain with me as highlights of this trip.  Here’s a selection of photographs from some of the other things that caught my eye as I wandered down the beach.

The tide pools provide algae for the various critters, including …

… this Sally Lightfoot crab.

Is that a giant marine iguana about to take a big bite out of the Xpedition?

I sat with this sea lion for a bit and it eventually woke up and posed for me.

This sea lion carcass might be the reason why there are so many ghost crabs
scurrying about the beach this afternoon.

At about this point, I looked at my watch and realized I had 20 minutes to make it back to the landing site. Regretfully, I turned back.  My timing was good, though, as Mui was walking in my direction.  Joining up, we made the return trek together, stopping frequently to watch the pelicans that were flying about.

Coming in for a landing …

… while this one is trying to take off from where it was sitting on the water.

Aerial Pelican Ballet!

It was nearing 5:30p when we arrived at the rocks where we’d left our stuff.  When we noticed one of the naturalists going for a run down the beach to make sure none of the passengers were still wandering on the far side, we decided to just sit and enjoy the last little bit of time until he returned and the last zodiac was ready to leave.  Hey, more minutes is always good.

Thanks, Patty, for offering to take our photo! 

When the time eventually came to leave the beach, we didn’t complain too much since there was one more afternoon activity that we were looking forward to …