Bartolomé & Santiago
Everyone who set their intercoms to Channel 1 to get the soothing 6am wakeup call had a real treat awaiting them at Bartolomé this morning. While we all grabbed a quick cup of coffee before our hike to one of Galápagos’ most amazing views, a humpback whale was spotted from the library. We quickly piled into the Zodiacs and cautiously approached what turned out to be a mother with her calf. The whales spent hours circling the area off the National Geographic Endeavour’s stern allowing everyone on board to get a good look at the whales, which sometimes came within a few feet of the Zodiacs!
After the whale encounter, we headed to the stairs – more than 300 of them – that took us through what looks like a Martian landscape of spatter cones and lava flows. Only a few hearty lava lizards were there to watch us go by – a big change from the islands teeming with life that we have become accustomed to over the last week. At the summit was a spectacular view of pinnacle rock – an icon of Galápagos – beautiful beaches, deep green vegetation behind the dunes, and miles of red volcanic rock along the coastline of Santiago Island.
The view of the landscape is truly breathtaking, as was the sight of the whales still circling near the National Geographic Endeavour. We were greeted at the Zodiacs by a penguin fishing for salimas in the crystal clear waters that we were about to go snorkeling in. Anxious to get into the water, we quickly returned to the ship for another amazing breakfast and a quick view of a Galápagos shark swimming by the ship.
Our snorkel from the beach of Bartolomé was another amazing underwater exploration – penguins darted around us, whitetip reef sharks glided gracefully by and sea lions swam circles around us – when they weren’t chasing penguins or each other. Even a marine iguana was spotted swimming along the shore. The abundance of fish life – including huge schools of bright red cardinal fish below pinnacle rock – showed us exactly why the penguins love it here.
A tough choice awaited us during the afternoon activities – take a long walk along the coastline of Santiago or dive in for one last snorkel. You couldn’t lose! Snorkelers found an octopus, whitetip reef sharks sleeping in a cave, sea lions, and piles of turtles grazing on the closely-cropped algae covering the underwater boulders. Walkers encountered Galápagos fur seals in the grottos cut into the black lava and discovered a newborn sea lion – the placenta was still floating in the water!
As the day finally came to a close with the golden evening light illuminating the stunning rocky coastline we couldn’t help but reflect on the amazing adventure that we had experienced. The fantastic wildlife, wonderful crew, and many new friends made in the Galápagos will be with us for a lifetime. For the many young explorers who came along on this family adventure, this trip has been an inspiration and hopefully will lead to a lifetime of exploring, and caring for, their world – from their backyards to the furthest reaches of the planet.
