Bartolome and Santiago
We woke up at six this morning and went for a hike. It was a little early to get up, but it was very rewarding to see the Galápagos at sunrise. It makes you see the islands in a different light, literally!
We hiked to the top of Bartolome which gave us a great view of the bay and the island. We climbed 372 stairs, and we were very relieved when we reached the summit! A lot of us thought “We’re here, where Charles Darwin was!”
At one point on the way up, we saw cool lava lizard tracks next to human “tracks” in the volcanic sand. We learned that the females have scarlet necks and the males are more dull-colored.
At the end of our hike, as we boarded Zodiacs to head back to the ship, we saw a sea lion with a crab on it! “The hike was quite fun and we saw tons of lava lizards,” Mitchell says, wrapping up the experience.
On the short trip back to the Islander, some of the others saw a loggerhead sea turtle; rare in the Galápagos.
Wow…it’s mind-boggling to realize that we had done so much from 6 to 8 a.m….before breakfast!! After we ate, we learned some snorkeling safety tips and left for an exciting exploration of the waters off a beach on Bartolome. We saw lots of sea stars and parrotfish. A very playful sea lion came right up to a group of us and we ended up playing with it for half an hour!
Our lunch was interrupted by the exciting announcement that there were dolphins playing in the ship’s bow wave. It was funny how everyone left their food behind as we hurried (but we followed ship rules and did NOT run!) to the bow to see several bottlenose dolphins. After we finally finished lunch, we enjoyed a photo workshop given by Annie Griffiths Belt.
Annie taught us a lot. She reminded us to look at the light, and to focus not just on the animal but the nature around it.
So when we went to Santiago Island to snorkel and hike, Leah and a couple other team members stayed on shore to focus on what we had learned at the workshop.
Following snorkeling, we took a hike and enjoyed seeing many crabs, marine iguanas, fur seals, as well as a few sea lions. We watched the sun set as we made our way back to the Islander for the night.
When asked what his favorite part of the day was, Tyler Jenss, 10, told us “when the dolphins swirled around the Islander at lunchtime, I think it was everybody’s favorite!”
We woke up at six this morning and went for a hike. It was a little early to get up, but it was very rewarding to see the Galápagos at sunrise. It makes you see the islands in a different light, literally!
We hiked to the top of Bartolome which gave us a great view of the bay and the island. We climbed 372 stairs, and we were very relieved when we reached the summit! A lot of us thought “We’re here, where Charles Darwin was!”
At one point on the way up, we saw cool lava lizard tracks next to human “tracks” in the volcanic sand. We learned that the females have scarlet necks and the males are more dull-colored.
At the end of our hike, as we boarded Zodiacs to head back to the ship, we saw a sea lion with a crab on it! “The hike was quite fun and we saw tons of lava lizards,” Mitchell says, wrapping up the experience.
On the short trip back to the Islander, some of the others saw a loggerhead sea turtle; rare in the Galápagos.
Wow…it’s mind-boggling to realize that we had done so much from 6 to 8 a.m….before breakfast!! After we ate, we learned some snorkeling safety tips and left for an exciting exploration of the waters off a beach on Bartolome. We saw lots of sea stars and parrotfish. A very playful sea lion came right up to a group of us and we ended up playing with it for half an hour!
Our lunch was interrupted by the exciting announcement that there were dolphins playing in the ship’s bow wave. It was funny how everyone left their food behind as we hurried (but we followed ship rules and did NOT run!) to the bow to see several bottlenose dolphins. After we finally finished lunch, we enjoyed a photo workshop given by Annie Griffiths Belt.
Annie taught us a lot. She reminded us to look at the light, and to focus not just on the animal but the nature around it.
So when we went to Santiago Island to snorkel and hike, Leah and a couple other team members stayed on shore to focus on what we had learned at the workshop.
Following snorkeling, we took a hike and enjoyed seeing many crabs, marine iguanas, fur seals, as well as a few sea lions. We watched the sun set as we made our way back to the Islander for the night.
When asked what his favorite part of the day was, Tyler Jenss, 10, told us “when the dolphins swirled around the Islander at lunchtime, I think it was everybody’s favorite!”
