Follow a specialist ornithologist around the brackish lagoon behind Las Bachas Beach, where pink flamingos, white-cheeked pintails, and black-necked stilts gather in scenes straight from a natural history documentary.
What to expect
The lagoon behind Las Bachas is one of the most reliable flamingo-spotting sites on Santa Cruz, its shallow, brackish water rich with the brine shrimp that give these birds their vivid pink plumage. Your ornithologist sets up a field scope for intimate, quivering close-ups of flamingos feeding with their distinctive upside-down filtering technique. Along the lagoon margins, common stilts pick delicately through the shallows, and Galápagos mockingbirds investigate your boots with charming fearlessness. The walk concludes on the open beach, where marine iguanas bask motionless on jet-black lava boulders and Sally Lightfoot crabs provide a vivid splash of scarlet and blue.
Good to know
Best light for photography is in the first two hours after landing — request an early panga transfer. Bring a sun hat and lightweight long sleeves; the lagoon walk offers little shade. Field scopes and binoculars are provided; your own telephoto lens will reward you. NPS rules require you stay on marked trails — your guide enforces this gently.
Sail there
Luxury cruises that call at Las Bachas — book through us, the fare is identical and your concierge stays on your side.