Bartolomé & Santiago Islands
We had an extremely beautiful day today! We started with a pre-breakfast hike to the summit of the volcanic islet of Bartolomé. We observed pioneer plants, small fearless lava lizards, spatter and cinder cones and collapsed lava tubes as we climbed a boardwalk and stairs to the top. Slightly breathless when we reached the summit, we were awed by the incredible view: green mangroves, golden beaches and the azure ocean in the foreground contrasting with a huge barren black lava flow that we were told is just 110 years old surrounding older reddish cones in the distance.
Breakfast was hot and waiting for us when we returned to the ship, then I gave some snorkel safety guidelines and the naturalists helped everyone find masks, fins and wetsuits to fit. We walked first to the south facing beach on Bartolomé where we found a pair of big and noisy pelican chicks in a mangrove. The adult birds were diving for fish with a small group of boobies and sea lions just off shore. A dozen white-tipped reef sharks swam in the shallow water, exposing their dorsal fins as they zigzagged back and forth. Some of us saw a sea turtle slowly swimming, too.
We returned to the landing beach and snorkeled around behind the pinnacle rock. A couple playful sea lions joined us, there were huge schools of fish, penguins that zipped past and a shark cruising deep below. As we were boarding the Zodiacs to return to the ship a fast moving penguin darted along the shore in two feet of water. He was chasing small two inch long fish and flying quite quickly under the water.
We made our afternoon visit to Puerto Egas where the guides and I could not help exclaiming over the absolutely perfect conditions we found. The shoreline was calm, the tide at dead low, the sky blue and sun warm but there was a pleasant cool breeze. Guest Linda Rubens wrote the following after the afternoon’s splendid walk:
“Imagine soft spring green velvet beds of closely cropped marine algae, splashed among sea darkened jet black lava rock. From an opening in the sea a dark head rises and a prehistoric lizard clambers out. Resolutely it marches upwards towards a dry, warmed volcanic outcropping – a sudden snort sends salt spurting forth. We sit cross legged on the rocks and peer down into a grotto, watching a young male sea lion toss an albacore upon the rocks. He feasts on chunks of fish flesh and red crabs scuttle and a lava heron scampers over to grab a fleshy bit. This is another world – a sense of awe and wonder touches us all – prehistoric yet still evolving. We feel a very deep sense of appreciation to those whose mission it is to preserve and to educate. As Lynn said, ‘In thiry years of guiding, I have never seen some of the things we saw today.’ And so it is for us, new to this part of God’s creation.”
We had an extremely beautiful day today! We started with a pre-breakfast hike to the summit of the volcanic islet of Bartolomé. We observed pioneer plants, small fearless lava lizards, spatter and cinder cones and collapsed lava tubes as we climbed a boardwalk and stairs to the top. Slightly breathless when we reached the summit, we were awed by the incredible view: green mangroves, golden beaches and the azure ocean in the foreground contrasting with a huge barren black lava flow that we were told is just 110 years old surrounding older reddish cones in the distance.
Breakfast was hot and waiting for us when we returned to the ship, then I gave some snorkel safety guidelines and the naturalists helped everyone find masks, fins and wetsuits to fit. We walked first to the south facing beach on Bartolomé where we found a pair of big and noisy pelican chicks in a mangrove. The adult birds were diving for fish with a small group of boobies and sea lions just off shore. A dozen white-tipped reef sharks swam in the shallow water, exposing their dorsal fins as they zigzagged back and forth. Some of us saw a sea turtle slowly swimming, too.
We returned to the landing beach and snorkeled around behind the pinnacle rock. A couple playful sea lions joined us, there were huge schools of fish, penguins that zipped past and a shark cruising deep below. As we were boarding the Zodiacs to return to the ship a fast moving penguin darted along the shore in two feet of water. He was chasing small two inch long fish and flying quite quickly under the water.
We made our afternoon visit to Puerto Egas where the guides and I could not help exclaiming over the absolutely perfect conditions we found. The shoreline was calm, the tide at dead low, the sky blue and sun warm but there was a pleasant cool breeze. Guest Linda Rubens wrote the following after the afternoon’s splendid walk:
“Imagine soft spring green velvet beds of closely cropped marine algae, splashed among sea darkened jet black lava rock. From an opening in the sea a dark head rises and a prehistoric lizard clambers out. Resolutely it marches upwards towards a dry, warmed volcanic outcropping – a sudden snort sends salt spurting forth. We sit cross legged on the rocks and peer down into a grotto, watching a young male sea lion toss an albacore upon the rocks. He feasts on chunks of fish flesh and red crabs scuttle and a lava heron scampers over to grab a fleshy bit. This is another world – a sense of awe and wonder touches us all – prehistoric yet still evolving. We feel a very deep sense of appreciation to those whose mission it is to preserve and to educate. As Lynn said, ‘In thiry years of guiding, I have never seen some of the things we saw today.’ And so it is for us, new to this part of God’s creation.”
