Bartolome & Santiago Islands
These two islands have a very special place for us all, naturalist; Bartolome, due to its incredible scenery, is one of our favourite’s areas to talk about geology. In fact we all considerer it as an open text book, so we can fully appreciate the effects of time over the lava flows and its chemical composition.
We started the exploration of Bartolome early in the morning; we went out to climb and to reach the summit of the island, and all the guests that decided to take the option, were absolutely delighted with the view! It was very impressive, like walking on the moon, as there were many parasitic cones that resembled the craters of the moon itself. In the distance, the pinnacle rock! This is an old, eroded tuff cone surrounded by two half moon bays with two precious little golden beaches.
As for the rest of morning we focused in water activities. Everyone returned with big smiles after being immersed in this incredible marine ecosystem.
During the afternoon our Captain Pablo Garces repositioned the Islander to a different island. James, also known as Santiago, happens to be our adopted island. It is precisely here where our company, Lindblad Expeditions, have put a lot of efforts on the conservation of endemic species by helping the eradication of alien ones. Nowadays, we considered Santiago free of feral pigs and goats that have for years threatened the giant tortoises’ populations. Our walk was concentrated on exploring the coastline, and we all had a lot of fun while doing it. Intertidal zones are always fun to explore, because you never know what might have showed up trapped in the endless little tide pools formed by the low tide. Many large creatures were found too: marine iguanas sun bathing, shore birds, sea lions resting on the lava, Sally Lightfoot crabs, but the part of all was perhaps to reach the “fur sea lions” colonies.
After all this, we came back on board. But nobody said that fun is over just because we returned to the ship. In fact, we had a blast jumping off the platform at the main entrance, until the night (and some parents) forces us to go back inside!
These two islands have a very special place for us all, naturalist; Bartolome, due to its incredible scenery, is one of our favourite’s areas to talk about geology. In fact we all considerer it as an open text book, so we can fully appreciate the effects of time over the lava flows and its chemical composition.
We started the exploration of Bartolome early in the morning; we went out to climb and to reach the summit of the island, and all the guests that decided to take the option, were absolutely delighted with the view! It was very impressive, like walking on the moon, as there were many parasitic cones that resembled the craters of the moon itself. In the distance, the pinnacle rock! This is an old, eroded tuff cone surrounded by two half moon bays with two precious little golden beaches.
As for the rest of morning we focused in water activities. Everyone returned with big smiles after being immersed in this incredible marine ecosystem.
During the afternoon our Captain Pablo Garces repositioned the Islander to a different island. James, also known as Santiago, happens to be our adopted island. It is precisely here where our company, Lindblad Expeditions, have put a lot of efforts on the conservation of endemic species by helping the eradication of alien ones. Nowadays, we considered Santiago free of feral pigs and goats that have for years threatened the giant tortoises’ populations. Our walk was concentrated on exploring the coastline, and we all had a lot of fun while doing it. Intertidal zones are always fun to explore, because you never know what might have showed up trapped in the endless little tide pools formed by the low tide. Many large creatures were found too: marine iguanas sun bathing, shore birds, sea lions resting on the lava, Sally Lightfoot crabs, but the part of all was perhaps to reach the “fur sea lions” colonies.
After all this, we came back on board. But nobody said that fun is over just because we returned to the ship. In fact, we had a blast jumping off the platform at the main entrance, until the night (and some parents) forces us to go back inside!
