Bartolomé & Santiago
Blue was the color overhead when I made the six o’clock wake-up call. Sixty-nine degrees Fahrenheit was the outside air temperature. Thirty was the number of early risers who joined us on the pre-breakfast outing that ended up with an unexpected experience – dolphins on the way to the landing!
We had barely left the ship heading towards shore when a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins side-tracked us for a good while before landing. Our Zodiac captains were the best, keeping us abreast of the group who did not seem to mind our curiosity, as theirs was equal to ours. They jumped, came and went, leapt high, and splashed us aplenty.
When we finally landed, the heights of the island beckoned, and so the stairs led us up and up. The view from the top of the island overlooks mangrove green, sand gold and burnt sienna, with blue-green ocean surrounding all.
Snorkeling was delightful with very good visibility (is it possible the warm waters are arriving with their clarity?). White-tipped reef sharks cruised by and one was found sleeping. Parrot fish in their array of iridescence nibbled on algae near the bottom. A penguin flew under, chasing a small fry. Another stood patiently on a rock to warm up or dry off, providing us with a superb photo opportunity.
The afternoon was also spectacular. We spent our time on the island of Santiago; snorkelers exploring off the beach were rewarded with marine turtles grazing, sea lions playing, sharks a-swimming and an octopus a-sitting. Following the shoreline, an adult American Oystercatcher fed its days-old chick within a couple feet of us. A hawk perched nearby, sounding an alarm call that pierced the air. The light of early evening painted all we saw with a rose-colored hue. Two whales spouted off the coast as the sun set over Isabela Island to the west.
And today was only our first full day in the archipelago.
Blue was the color overhead when I made the six o’clock wake-up call. Sixty-nine degrees Fahrenheit was the outside air temperature. Thirty was the number of early risers who joined us on the pre-breakfast outing that ended up with an unexpected experience – dolphins on the way to the landing!
We had barely left the ship heading towards shore when a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins side-tracked us for a good while before landing. Our Zodiac captains were the best, keeping us abreast of the group who did not seem to mind our curiosity, as theirs was equal to ours. They jumped, came and went, leapt high, and splashed us aplenty.
When we finally landed, the heights of the island beckoned, and so the stairs led us up and up. The view from the top of the island overlooks mangrove green, sand gold and burnt sienna, with blue-green ocean surrounding all.
Snorkeling was delightful with very good visibility (is it possible the warm waters are arriving with their clarity?). White-tipped reef sharks cruised by and one was found sleeping. Parrot fish in their array of iridescence nibbled on algae near the bottom. A penguin flew under, chasing a small fry. Another stood patiently on a rock to warm up or dry off, providing us with a superb photo opportunity.
The afternoon was also spectacular. We spent our time on the island of Santiago; snorkelers exploring off the beach were rewarded with marine turtles grazing, sea lions playing, sharks a-swimming and an octopus a-sitting. Following the shoreline, an adult American Oystercatcher fed its days-old chick within a couple feet of us. A hawk perched nearby, sounding an alarm call that pierced the air. The light of early evening painted all we saw with a rose-colored hue. Two whales spouted off the coast as the sun set over Isabela Island to the west.
And today was only our first full day in the archipelago.
