Saturday, March 26, 2022, we anchored off Bachas Beach for a short excursion before traveling to Baltra Island and our flight back to the Ecuadorian mainland.
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| Despite the spelling on the map, other places spell it "Bachas," like I have. |
American troops were stationed on Santa Cruz during World War II and left several barges at this beach after the war. The locals couldn't pronounce the name "barges" and instead called them "bachas," and the name for the beach stuck. It is the most beautiful beach we visited. It is fine white coral sand with a lagoon just behind it that often has flamingos. This would probably be my fourth favorite site after Espinoza Point, Urbina Bay and James Bay. We saw lots of great wildlife despite a very short visit.
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| One of my favorite sightings the whole trip was this American flamingo. I've wanted to get a good close-up of a wild flamingo for years and this was it. |
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| I've seen lots of black-necked stilts in California. It was unusual to see a common bird that was not rare and endemic. |
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| Brown noddy |
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| Galapagos great blue heron. A common bird, but a very uncommon, endemic, subspecies. This was the only great blue heron we saw in the Galapagos. |
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| Frigatebird |
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| A lava gull, endemic, the rarest gull in the world. |
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| Least sandpiper, another very common bird. |
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| Semipalmated plover |
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| Wandering tattler |
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| White-cheeked pintail |
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| Marine iguana |
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| Sally lightfoot crab |
I'm a little sad that I missed this excursion, but I was fairly waterlogged at this point. Your pictures suffice.
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