Today we woke up early for an uphill walk to the top of Bartolome, a satellite islet of Santiago Island. This relatively new islet is a good place to appreciate different geological formations, such as tuff and spatter cones and basaltic flows. The presence of pioneer plants such as Tiquilia nesiotica and lava cacti makes Bartolome a good place to understand how life started in the Galapagos as the first plants established themselves on the newly formed islands. We also had the chance to explore the underwater world, and we observed many species of fish as well as the elusive Galapagos penguin.
During lunch, we navigated toward Dragon Hill on Santa Cruz Island, a few miles from Bartolome. Here we had an opportunity to observe iconic Galapagos land iguanas. We ended the day with our traditional recapitulation on board National Geographic Islander II.
