Two of the most beautiful spots of the Galapagos are Bartolomé and Chinese Hat Islands. Both of these small islands are located at the southeast corner of Santiago Island. We can easily see the evidence of recent eruptions and barren landscapes, contrasted with the lush vegetation observed few days ago in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island. After a short navigation, the National Geographic Endeavour dropped anchor in front of Bartolomé. Early in the morning, we headed to the small dock for a pre-breakfast outing, which took us up 370 wooden steps to the top of Bartolome Island. As we were climbing the hills of Bartholomew, we could see all of the cinder and parasitic cones around the path area, and pioneers plants establishing on a new lava rocks. It was incredible to see all of the erosion processes creating new landscapes for species to establish. It felt as if we were going back in time to the early Galapagos, observing the young islands as they emerged from the ocean. Bartholomew is a very young and pristine island, and we are seeing the results of recent efforts to eradicate the introduced rats that endangered the unique species here.
After breakfast, we explored the ocean during a snorkeling excursion around the famous Pinnacle Rock, and some of us had the chance to see Galapagos penguins and white–tipped reef sharks. The glass-bottom boat gave us another opportunity for our guests to enjoy the marine fauna.
During the afternoon, we navigated towards Chinese Hat, which is a satellite islet of Santiago Island. Once we arrived, we went out for another snorkeling excursion along the young lava fields of Santiago. We encountered many species of fish and white-tipped reef sharks sleeping under the caves along the coast, as well as two tiger snake eel swimming along the sandy bottom. We even observed a Galapagos penguin on the rocks, as it finished its feeding, and several more were seen getting ready to spend the night in the crevices.
After the snorkeling, we had a Zodiac ride to look for endemic species along the coast of both islands. Today’s adventure closed with an outstanding equatorial sunset, which we enjoyed from the Zodiacs and out on the deck of the National Geographic Endeavour.
