Puerto Egas, located on the western side of Santiago island (south end of James Bay), was once the site of a salt mine. It is now a beautiful tourist site that can visited by foot. The rough volcanic rocks make for some interesting walking. Puerto Egas offer two separate trails: The first along the coast to the fur seal grottoes and the second inland to the Salt Mine Volcano. The Galapagos fur seal prefers rocky coastlines where shade is available and the grottoes of Puerto Egas are ideal. The coastal trail ends at the grottoes. The inland trail is approximately 3 km long and ends at the top of the salt mine crater. During your hiking in Puerto Egas, you can easily spot sea lions, fur seals, marine iguanas, pelicans, blue-footed boobies and lava herons. Excursions to Puerto Egas are offer on naturalist cruises.
Dive site
Puerto Egas also offer amazing scuba diving. Dives sites offer shallow dives suitable for beginner level divers. The bottom consists of a irregular slope, mainly made up of sand and no deeper than 12 meters (40ft). Current is usually very little here, thus making it a enjoyable dive. Marine life is abundant, however, visibility may be a little limited. You can almost always see fur seals and sea lions during the dives. You can also find some animals here that you usually only find around Isabela Island such as sea pens, horn sharks, sea horses and sand anemones.
