Bartolomé & Santiago Islands
What a wonderful day we had today.
Our last full day on the Galápagos Islands, today we had an optional wake-call to reach the top of Bartolomé, an island which we call “the open book of geology.” Its impressive landscape is recognized around the world with its famous Pinnacle Rock. 372 steps took us on an expedition to lava structures like ash, cones of different kinds, tubes and rivers of magma frozen in time for what once was a creative force of Mother Nature. This was an awakening, a journey of discovery.
Back aboard for breakfast, we came together with our guests for our next activity – a stroll on a golden beach and water options like glass bottom boating, snorkeling around Pinnacle Rock, or simply a towel and a book at the beach. With all kinds of activities to maximize our experience, today some of us were rewarded with swimming penguins, while other were dazzled by watching female green pacific turtles on the shoreline, right in front of us while male turtles were waiting for them to come back to the shallow for mating. What a sunny and wavy day.
Back onboard we repositioned to our last outing. The island is called Santiago, the site Puerto Egas, which holds a black sand beach with grottos with fur seals. Snorkeling, beach time or a walk if preferred were our choices on this site. Our guests tailored their options and so this is how we provide fulfillment to a wide range of interest; there is always some reward regardless which option was taken.
Some guests saw pelicans, iguanas, crabs, birds of different kinds, grottos and sea, sky and breeze. Others of course saw our ever-present friends, the sea lions. The most important thing I saw today was our guests perceiving their own senses in tune with our natural world, noticing the direction of a warm gentle breeze as we saw the sun set.
Today we had our last full day, and we came back with some sorrow since our time here on the Galápagos Islands is up. Our expedition has come to an end.
These are the enchanted islands, and on this expedition I was overwhelmed with many visiting friends whom enhanced our experience, a fun place, a place to be awakened, and a place to coexist with nature by respecting thy neighbor. Just like all animals would do here and so, we were part of it, part of this wonderful place called the Galápagos, this wonderful place called Planet Earth.
