Bartolome and Santiago Islands
Although the light was still low, the dusky colours surrounding us soon started to glow with the sunrise. Amber, ochre, yellow, burnt umber, you name those earth tones, they are here in the cinder, spatter and tuff cones of Bartholomew and Santiago Islands.
No wind stirred the ocean, so the school of jacks, tuna or bonitos (whoever they were) breaking the water surface with knife-sharp rooster-tails, stood out at a great distance. The following noddy terns helped a bit, too. Snorkelers launched themselves into today’s clear water and saw parrotfish, surgeonfish and others. A sea lion floated for a while with one dry flipper in the air, before he decided to duck under and flirt with the humans. Penguins chased sardines in the shadow of towering “Pinnacle Rock.”
The afternoon surprised us with the first rain shower of the season! It didn’t last long and certainly didn’t stop us from doing everything we could. Pto. Egas of Santiago Island provided the snorkelers with an ideal situation: many, many tropical fish and even a couple of marine turtles! The coastline at low tide exposed an intricate pattern of lava, tuff stone and sand, harbouring shorebirds, Galápagos sea lions and fur seals. One young pup expressed his curiosity of the human species by investigating shoes and ankles, and tasted a hiking stick for an extra sensory experience.
Although the light was still low, the dusky colours surrounding us soon started to glow with the sunrise. Amber, ochre, yellow, burnt umber, you name those earth tones, they are here in the cinder, spatter and tuff cones of Bartholomew and Santiago Islands.
No wind stirred the ocean, so the school of jacks, tuna or bonitos (whoever they were) breaking the water surface with knife-sharp rooster-tails, stood out at a great distance. The following noddy terns helped a bit, too. Snorkelers launched themselves into today’s clear water and saw parrotfish, surgeonfish and others. A sea lion floated for a while with one dry flipper in the air, before he decided to duck under and flirt with the humans. Penguins chased sardines in the shadow of towering “Pinnacle Rock.”
The afternoon surprised us with the first rain shower of the season! It didn’t last long and certainly didn’t stop us from doing everything we could. Pto. Egas of Santiago Island provided the snorkelers with an ideal situation: many, many tropical fish and even a couple of marine turtles! The coastline at low tide exposed an intricate pattern of lava, tuff stone and sand, harbouring shorebirds, Galápagos sea lions and fur seals. One young pup expressed his curiosity of the human species by investigating shoes and ankles, and tasted a hiking stick for an extra sensory experience.
