Puerto Egas is one of the most popular sites in the Galápagos – a long, flat, black lava shoreline where eroded shapes form lava pools, caves and inlets that house a great variety of wildlife. It's a great place to see colonies of marine iguanas basking in the sun and hundreds of Sally Lightfoot crabs attracting hunting herons. The inlets are also a favorite haunt of the surprisingly agile Galápagos fur sea lions.
This stretch is named after Dario Egas, the owner of a salt mine on the island who was once, as a result of presidential patronage, the only producer of salt in the country.
Behind the black lava shoreline is Sugarloaf Volcano, which can be reached via a 2km (1.2-mile) path on which lava lizards, Darwin's finches and Galápagos doves are often seen. It peters out near the summit, but the views from here are stupendous! There's also an extinct crater in which feral goats are known to lurk. North of the volcano is a crater where the mine once was – its remains can still be seen.
