Overnight we sailed over 80 nautical miles, to get to the most mysterious and fascinating part of the Galapagos Archipelago, the geologically young western islands. Still actively being fed by the Galapagos mantle plume, signs of their young age are everywhere as we hike over lava flows and cruise along volcanic structures of different origins. Situated at the edge of the Galapagos Platform, this area is also where the cold, productive waters of the Equatorial Undercurrent upwell, bringing an abundance of marine life to the area, much of which was seen during our sailing, Zodiac riding and snorkeling activities.
Aug 21
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National Geographic Islander
Punta Pitt & Cerro Brujo, San Cristobal Island
Today we visited the island of San Cristobal. We started our day with a hike at Punta Pitt, where we walked uphill along a beautiful tuff landscape. Here we could observe the last of the three species of boobies found in the Galapagos, the red-footed booby. We also found nesting blue-footed boobies. We ended this hike with a refreshing swim at the beach, while our National Geographic Global Explorers went for Zodiac driving lessons around the bay. In the afternoon, while some went for kayaking along the shore of Cerro Brujo, others went to visit a beautiful white sand beach. Here we had the opportunity to relax and practice our photography skills as the light of the afternoon started to get better with the sunset. We ended our day navigating around Kicker Rock, a tuff cone in the middle of the ocean, while our bartenders onboard National Geographic Islander offered different kinds of wine on the sky deck.
