Bartolome & James Islands
We woke up by looking at a beautiful landscape in the sunrise. It is exiting to see, from the sundeck, the first sunrays softly producing an incredible shadow at the famous Pinnacle Rock of Bartholomew. This calls the attention of all of our guests during the early morning visit.
At 6:30 we started our hike up more than 370 steps to reach the summit. I felt and saw on all of our guests a lot of enthusiasm and enjoyment as we climbed this unique moon landscape located in the northwestern part of Galápagos.
What a surprise it is to know that life takes place here in the form of plants, grasshoppers and lizards that survive the intense sun without much water. A small food chain exists right on the lava flows and formations of these spatter cones of some millions years of age. As we reached the summit located high above sea level we took photos of this postcard and unique landscape showing us two beaches separated by an isthmus of mangrove trees. At the same time we all identified several islands that surround Bartholomew: San Santiago, Sta Cruz, North Seymour, Baltra, Duncan, and Rabida, just to mention few of them.
After this hike we made a gentle landing on the northern beach to go immediately for a walk through the dunes towards the southern beach and, surprisingly, see groups of white tipped reef sharks moving in circles very close to the shore. This experience was spectacular. Afterwards we enjoyed snorkeling and swimming activities by the Pinnacle Rock in beautiful turquoise water.
After coming back to the boat and during lunch, we circumnavigate James Island. After a good nap, we disembarked for snorkeling and swimming activities in a pleasant water temperature of 79F. Immediately after, our guests got ready for the walk on relatively flattened lava fields and sedimentary tuff, located on the intertidal zone of James Island, a place we could identify bright and restless sally light foot crabs, unique marine iguanas from James and finally the grottos, formations of lava tubes where we had the chance of looking at some Galápagos Fur Seals and Galápagos Sea Lions.
On the way back we could feel an agreeable breeze and we spotted some juvenile Galápagos Mockingbirds and some small ground finches flying back to their nests before the sunset.
We woke up by looking at a beautiful landscape in the sunrise. It is exiting to see, from the sundeck, the first sunrays softly producing an incredible shadow at the famous Pinnacle Rock of Bartholomew. This calls the attention of all of our guests during the early morning visit.
At 6:30 we started our hike up more than 370 steps to reach the summit. I felt and saw on all of our guests a lot of enthusiasm and enjoyment as we climbed this unique moon landscape located in the northwestern part of Galápagos.
What a surprise it is to know that life takes place here in the form of plants, grasshoppers and lizards that survive the intense sun without much water. A small food chain exists right on the lava flows and formations of these spatter cones of some millions years of age. As we reached the summit located high above sea level we took photos of this postcard and unique landscape showing us two beaches separated by an isthmus of mangrove trees. At the same time we all identified several islands that surround Bartholomew: San Santiago, Sta Cruz, North Seymour, Baltra, Duncan, and Rabida, just to mention few of them.
After this hike we made a gentle landing on the northern beach to go immediately for a walk through the dunes towards the southern beach and, surprisingly, see groups of white tipped reef sharks moving in circles very close to the shore. This experience was spectacular. Afterwards we enjoyed snorkeling and swimming activities by the Pinnacle Rock in beautiful turquoise water.
After coming back to the boat and during lunch, we circumnavigate James Island. After a good nap, we disembarked for snorkeling and swimming activities in a pleasant water temperature of 79F. Immediately after, our guests got ready for the walk on relatively flattened lava fields and sedimentary tuff, located on the intertidal zone of James Island, a place we could identify bright and restless sally light foot crabs, unique marine iguanas from James and finally the grottos, formations of lava tubes where we had the chance of looking at some Galápagos Fur Seals and Galápagos Sea Lions.
On the way back we could feel an agreeable breeze and we spotted some juvenile Galápagos Mockingbirds and some small ground finches flying back to their nests before the sunset.
