Today was our last day in the Galapagos before Polaris leaves to go to Panama for a month long dry dock. And what a fabulous day we had to end our season! We hiked to the summit of the barren volcanic island of Bartolome and earned the delicious buffet breakfast that awaited us when we returned to the ship. Then we disembarked on a lovely crescent beach, took a short hike and or suited up in snorkeling gear and swam out to search for fish, sea lions and penguins.
Several of us saw penguins chasing and feeding on two-inch long fish. These fast underwater flyers zip in and out and speed past so fast that sometimes one isn't really even sure what just swam by. The Polaris guests who chose to take a ride in our glass bottom boat also witnessed an incredible penguin show. Seven curious penguins followed close behind the boat. They were friendly, then amorous and trying to mate. When we motored alongside some of our guests who were snorkeling, the penguins swam right up to the swimmers, pecked at their masks and their flippers and one penguin sat on one of our guest's head.
The penguins were so close to us in the glass bottom boat that naturalist Paul McFarling had a hard time getting a picture. But even if he wasn't able to preserve the exact moment when Marcos had a penguin sitting in his hair, that shot is engraved in our minds. It has been a marvelous week and there are innumerable special memories engraved in our minds (hopefully we captured some of them on film, too) - of bottlenose dolphins riding our bow wake at sunrise on Sunday, of the huge, graceful mola mola that we snorkeled with on Tuesday, and of comical, dancing blue-footed boobies and soaring frigatebirds. We sail for Panama in the morning, but our hearts will stay behind in these enchanted islands.
