Bartolomé & Santiago Islands
We started early this morning; by 6:30am we were disembarking on Bartolome! This island is known as “an open book of geology”, and we followed a boardwalk between spatter cones, lave tubes, tuff cones and pahoehoe lava flows. We climbed 376 steps and had to work hard to arrive to the spectacular view from the summit of the island. When we disembarked we found as sally light foot crabs, marine iguanas and sea lions, abut later there were only a few pioneer plants, lava lizards, and sea birds flying overhead. Every step up this barren volcanic island was worth the effort and at the top we stopped to enjoy the spectacular scenery.
We went back on board to enjoy our breakfast, and soon headed out again for the morning’s second activity: a walk between two golden beaches. To our surprise and delight, as we were arriving at the beach we saw a small group of cute, endemic penguins in the water alongside our Zodiac. A ten minute walk took us across a sand dune to a long narrow beach. Here we discovered brown pelicans nesting in the mangroves, ghost crabs running on the sand and, one of the highlights of the day, several white tip reef sharks swimming in the shallows very close to shore. We returned to the landing beach for snorkeling, swimming or relaxing; there were options for everyone. Returning to the ship for lunch we realized, all this and that was just the morning!
We sailed on to Santiago Island and, after lunch and a welcome siesta, we disembarked on a lovely black sand beach at Puerto Egas. Here we had our second chance to snorkel and there were plenty of fish, a few sea turtles and a curious sea lion. We took a walk along the coast to the grottos, home to the second species of sea lion that you can find in the Galápagos, the “fur seal”. This is a beautiful area of flooded lava tunnels and we enjoyed both the landscape and the land and shore birds: American oystercatchers, herons, finches, mocking birds and yellow warblers.
As the sun set we returned to the ship. We climbed to the skydeck to share a drink, the emotions of this exciting day, and a traditional seafood dish of ceviche. What a full day and wonderful beginning to our trip! And we still have one week to enjoy this paradise!
We started early this morning; by 6:30am we were disembarking on Bartolome! This island is known as “an open book of geology”, and we followed a boardwalk between spatter cones, lave tubes, tuff cones and pahoehoe lava flows. We climbed 376 steps and had to work hard to arrive to the spectacular view from the summit of the island. When we disembarked we found as sally light foot crabs, marine iguanas and sea lions, abut later there were only a few pioneer plants, lava lizards, and sea birds flying overhead. Every step up this barren volcanic island was worth the effort and at the top we stopped to enjoy the spectacular scenery.
We went back on board to enjoy our breakfast, and soon headed out again for the morning’s second activity: a walk between two golden beaches. To our surprise and delight, as we were arriving at the beach we saw a small group of cute, endemic penguins in the water alongside our Zodiac. A ten minute walk took us across a sand dune to a long narrow beach. Here we discovered brown pelicans nesting in the mangroves, ghost crabs running on the sand and, one of the highlights of the day, several white tip reef sharks swimming in the shallows very close to shore. We returned to the landing beach for snorkeling, swimming or relaxing; there were options for everyone. Returning to the ship for lunch we realized, all this and that was just the morning!
We sailed on to Santiago Island and, after lunch and a welcome siesta, we disembarked on a lovely black sand beach at Puerto Egas. Here we had our second chance to snorkel and there were plenty of fish, a few sea turtles and a curious sea lion. We took a walk along the coast to the grottos, home to the second species of sea lion that you can find in the Galápagos, the “fur seal”. This is a beautiful area of flooded lava tunnels and we enjoyed both the landscape and the land and shore birds: American oystercatchers, herons, finches, mocking birds and yellow warblers.
As the sun set we returned to the ship. We climbed to the skydeck to share a drink, the emotions of this exciting day, and a traditional seafood dish of ceviche. What a full day and wonderful beginning to our trip! And we still have one week to enjoy this paradise!
