Tonight we ended our Christmas cruise in Galapagos with a Barbecue dinner, served soon after sunset, on the Teak deck of the Polaris. A festive and fitting end to the final, marvelous day of this trip.
Early this morning we hiked to the summit of Bartolome Island, following a wooden stairway that the National Park Service built to control the erosion of this fragile volcanic islet. We snorkeled with penguins off a tiny, golden crescent-shaped beach and were amazed at the speed with which they flitted underwater, chasing inch long fish. In the afternoon we snorkeled again, this time from a black sand beach, and spied sea turtles and many sea lions. We took a hike along the shoreline of Santiago Island where we had a last chance to observe sea lions: pups with their mothers, nursing and snuggling, and pups playing with other pups, wrestling and struggling, huge beach masters - males that patrol their territories, barking continuously to challenge and warn away any possible competitors. It is both a great privilege and a great joy to see these animals in their own natural surroundings, behaving as they wish and need to, and ignoring our presence completely. By the time our afternoon walk was ending, the marine iguanas were out of the water, stacking up together to keep warm during the night, out of reach of the tide.
We returned to the ship, spent a few nostalgic minutes over farewell cocktails, enjoyed the delicious Barbecue dinner under the clear, starry night skies and concluded - guests and naturalist staff alike - that indeed it has been an absolutely fabulous week!
