Bartolomé & Santiago Islands

Anchored off Bartolomé is where we awoke this morning, a geologist’s paradise and one of the classic spots of the Galápagos. With an extremely dry ecosystem, Bartolome is in the rain shadow of its neighboring Santiago Island.

A few plant species also known as pioneers have been able to survive in this very extreme environment; the absence of fresh water makes life difficult for most of the land animal species that we have seen on the other islands, so the solitary lava lizards are the only ones who have colonized this particular place. The scenery at the top of the volcano is spectacular with an excellent panoramic view of Pinnacle Rock, the eroded remains of a tuff cone, and a small submerged crater can be seen below near the landing area.

Bartolomé is a tuff cone that formed from the explosive encounter of seawater and boiling magma. The eruption sent columns of ash into the air that compacted and formed the tuff cones that make most of this island. The spatter cones, on top of the tuff surface have formed in alignment to the main crater that has eroded away.

After breakfast, we returned to Bartolome to hike across the sandy dunes to a beach on the south side, where we could observe the tracks of the sea turtle hatchlings that have already made it to the ocean. Returning to the beach at Pinnacle Rock, some of us venture into the colder waters to snorkel. We did not find the famous sharks but instead we found hundreds of small colorful reef fish that made the water activity very interesting. Glass bottom boat goers also had the opportunity to investigate the undersea world with a naturalist.

Santiago in the afternoon was a perfect way to end our learning week in this fragile and special archipelago. Santiago is a success story of how the eradication of invasive goats, where 100% of the introduced species were eliminated, allowed the island to start returning to its natural state.

During our final walk along the coast we got to see many of the animals we had fallen in love with during our week here and that are the heart of the Galápagos: sea turtles, sea lions, marine iguanas, fur seals, yellow warblers, mockingbirds, Darwin’s finches and fur sea lions. This wrapped up our Galápagos experience.

What a week and what a special expedition this has been! All the incredible up close and personal encounters we have had with the wildlife of the Galápagos have touched and changed us forever…