Talk to an Expedition Specialist

As the sun rose in the horizon, we found ourselves anchored between Chinese Hat and James Islands in a canal where we snorkeled, kayaked and rode Zodiacs along the shore.  Some of our guests had the option of visiting a white sandy beach. Chinese Hat is an old shield volcano while Sullivan Bay is formed of new pahoehoe Lava.

In the afternoon, we visited one of the biggest lava fields from an eruption that occurred in 1897 in the Galapagos. This molten iron covered the previous vegetation, an example of this is seen in an imprint of a tree that is perfectly molded and vaporized leaving its form intact and orange colored from rusting. This occurred because while vaporizing the tree, lava cooled and did not vitrify as the rest of the field, which is pitch black. The walk on lava makes your mind wonder and imagine many forms in the lava just as we see forms in clouds. We were also able to observe how plants colonize newly formed land and start the process of soil formation.