Bartolomé & San Salvador Islands

Volcanoes, turquoise waters, penguins, friendly sea lions, sea going lizards, and giant prickly pear cacti! Where in the world can one find those things all together on the same site? The answer is on Bartolomé Island, a little more than a square mile piece of land located in the central part of the Galápagos archipelago, a beautiful location formed through different kinds of volcanic episodes that go from lava flows to explosive eruptions. Bartolomé is colored by orange cinder cones, yellowish tuff and golden brown spatter cones. The northern beach, on the leeward side, is painted in gold. The southern beach gets more of the organic white sand, as it is exposed to currents and strong winds. Here we walked, we snorkeled, we swam, and we enjoyed wonderful views in the company of Galápagos creatures.

The afternoon found us on our adopted island, San Salvador (or Santiago). Fur sea lions were one of the highlights, resting in the grottos of this fantastic shoreline. Mockingbirds and yellow warblers gave us company along the trails. While coming back on board, we saw Isabela Island hiding the sun behind its volcanoes. The light from our closest star vanished, leaving behind myriads of smaller sparkles; we kept on dreaming, living the Galápagos Islands.