Bartolome & Santiago Islands
Today couldn’t have turned out better than what it did! The sun started to shine since the very beginning and of course, our expedition to the Island of Bartolome started shortly after that. This island doesn’t offer a lot of animal wild life, but the various landscapes are impressive as well as the complexity of colours that one can see here. In fact, it is well known that this place is considered one of the jewels in the Galápagos in terms of geology. We had the best view of ancient cinder cones and areas covered on volcanic ash where hardy pioneer plants struggle for their survival.
The hike leaded us to the very top of the main cinder cone of the island and rewarded us with a spectacular view of the pinnacle rock at the distance and two golden-ish little beaches on the surroundings. James Island was seen at the distance as well, and it was here where the famous Charles Darwin spent some time during his voyage on the HMS Beagle.
After such an active start, we had a delicious breakfast that gave us back the energy that we needed to continue with our snorkeling and swimming activities off the beach. Some of us even took the advantage of a short walk over a little Isthmus that separates the two beaches. We were delighted by a swarm of ghost crabs running all over and around the beach and quite a few numbers of species of shore birds were spotted there, too.
After leaving behind the island of Bartolome, we had a smooth navigation and landed on James Island for more snorkeling and swimming. Nothing could have been better than the experience of sea lions swimming side by side with our guests, but the hike offered after the snorkeling was full of highlights, and it kept our guests pretty content!
Along the shoreline we visited part of the intertidal zone to observe all kind of animal life such as the Galápagos sea lion and the fur sea lions, brown pelicans, blue footed boobies, and that is just to mention a few! The light condition was excellent, especially for those who were very much into photography.
It was so hard to leave a place like this, but we had no choice as the sun was setting and with that, darkness was falling upon the enchanted Santiago. This was a very successful day in the enchanted Galápagos Islands!
Today couldn’t have turned out better than what it did! The sun started to shine since the very beginning and of course, our expedition to the Island of Bartolome started shortly after that. This island doesn’t offer a lot of animal wild life, but the various landscapes are impressive as well as the complexity of colours that one can see here. In fact, it is well known that this place is considered one of the jewels in the Galápagos in terms of geology. We had the best view of ancient cinder cones and areas covered on volcanic ash where hardy pioneer plants struggle for their survival.
The hike leaded us to the very top of the main cinder cone of the island and rewarded us with a spectacular view of the pinnacle rock at the distance and two golden-ish little beaches on the surroundings. James Island was seen at the distance as well, and it was here where the famous Charles Darwin spent some time during his voyage on the HMS Beagle.
After such an active start, we had a delicious breakfast that gave us back the energy that we needed to continue with our snorkeling and swimming activities off the beach. Some of us even took the advantage of a short walk over a little Isthmus that separates the two beaches. We were delighted by a swarm of ghost crabs running all over and around the beach and quite a few numbers of species of shore birds were spotted there, too.
After leaving behind the island of Bartolome, we had a smooth navigation and landed on James Island for more snorkeling and swimming. Nothing could have been better than the experience of sea lions swimming side by side with our guests, but the hike offered after the snorkeling was full of highlights, and it kept our guests pretty content!
Along the shoreline we visited part of the intertidal zone to observe all kind of animal life such as the Galápagos sea lion and the fur sea lions, brown pelicans, blue footed boobies, and that is just to mention a few! The light condition was excellent, especially for those who were very much into photography.
It was so hard to leave a place like this, but we had no choice as the sun was setting and with that, darkness was falling upon the enchanted Santiago. This was a very successful day in the enchanted Galápagos Islands!
