Santiago Marine Iguana

Santiago Island and small adjacent islands to it have a subspecies of marine iguana which is labeled as endangered by the IUCN, as opposed to vulnerable for most of the other subspecies. I spotted one marine iguana from a panga while we were north of Espumilla Beach on the northwest part of the island. It was on a sandy beach. 

We saw others further south at Egas Port in a heavy rainstorm, so I took no photos. The first one was standing on a black sand beach. I started walking toward it, in the direction we would soon be taking a hike, and got quite close to it. Later, as we took a hike over thick slabs of lava, some with ocean weaves streaming up through ravines with lava arches, we encountered multiple marine iguanas. Unfortunately, I was protecting my camera from the drenching rain.