Bartolomé & Santiago Islands
Today we started our activities early in the morning. We wanted to enjoy to the maximum our last full day in the Galápagos Archipelago. The first visit was before breakfast when we headed to the Island of Bartolomé with the objective of getting to a view point located 355 feet above sea level, right on the summit of the Island. Most of us went and experienced a wonderful landscape that gave us the sensation of walking on the surface of a different planet. The red color in the lava flows and the different kinds of parasitic cones we saw from this spot made the visit unique among the others.
Later in the morning after our well deserved breakfast we landed again on Bartolome. This time we landed on a beautiful golden volcanic sandy beach; some of our guests went for a walk across the sand dunes to get to the southern beach where sharks, penguins and pelicans were seen. Some others spent the morning swimming, snorkeling and glass bottom boating. The waters were very calm with a tempting turquoise color. Many species of tropical fish were seen as well as white tipped reef sharks.
In the afternoon after a three-hour navigation along the northern shoreline of Santiago, we arrived to Puerto Egas. At this site we could do our last snorkeling. We found so much marine life; sea turtles and sea lions were the highlight. We also had a nice exploration on the coast, hiking over lava fields and sand. We came across lots of shore birds and the two different endemic species of sea lions, the Galápagos sea lions and the Galápagos fur seals. Both were very near our trail.
On our way back we had wonderful picture opportunities, and the light was very good; the sun setting on the volcanoes of Isabela created beautiful colors that gave us the idea for a moment that the volcanoes were erupting, on fire. This was a very nice way to finish our last visit in the Galápagos Archipelago.
Later in the evening we had a farewell cocktail and we all cheered for a wonderful week in the Enchanted Islands.
