Bartholomé & Santiago Islands
Early this morning we started our first full day of exploration on Bartholomé Island. We went ashore for a great hike to the top of an extinct cinder cone. To protect the beauty of the volcanic formations we walked along a wooden trail. Along the way up we saw small lava tubes, pahoe hoe lava and spatter cones. We also found several of the pioneer plants surviving in this very arid place; among the few species of plants we found one to be responsible for the process of erosion of lava, it is the lava cactus that stands out alone with its yellow and grey branches. It can grow on solid lava and is very well adapted to survive in conditions of extreme drought.
After reaching the summit and observing the most famous view from the archipelago, we returned back to the ship to have breakfast. We were well rewarded for our pre-breakfast outing, because (and all of the sudden!) not too far from the ship there two large whales. The two were Bryde’s whales; but they were not alone, there was also a pod of killer whales near the area. We found out the large whales were a mother and a calf and were leaving the place quickly. In the case of the orcas, one of the Zodiacs had seen them spy-hopping. We stayed in the area with them for a while and then we went to the beach for walking and snorkeling. This was a nice sunny, warm morning so the cooling waters of the Pacific Ocean felt great.
We left Bartholomew and during our navigation to James Bay, a very exciting surprise awaited for us; we were joined by a large pod of bottle nosed dolphins which played and stayed with us for a while.
Santiago Island used to be one of the favorite islands for pirates and privateers to harvest Galápagos giant tortoises and to find a place to rest, and to hide away from authorities. We landed on Santiago Island and had a walk along a cinder trail. Here we looked for Galápagos marine iguanas, shore birds of all kinds, Galápagos fur seals, and a juvenile Galápagos hawk that came very close to inspect us.
We had an amazing day in Galápagos.
