Today we visited a small island known for its fantastic volcanic landscape—Bartolomé! Before breakfast we hiked 372 wooden steps along a boardwalk, build by the national park some years ago to protect the island from erosion and also to allow guests to get to the top of the crater, where they could have an outstanding view of the surroundings as well as some other islands in the vicinity. Very few animals were found here alive as the land is dominated by rocks and the soil is not as productive as other taller islands. Some lava lizards have become adapted to the area as well as some Darwin’s finches and Galapagos doves. We found a pelican laying feet up. Vegetation is also very poor and the few dry bushes around were well adapted to desert conditions, especially the Galapagos lava cactus, a pioneering species.
After this early outing we came back on board for breakfast, and also to get ready for the next activity of the day, snorkeling. A wet landing on pink colored sand was the beginning of a water exploration with many chances to see fish, sharks, rays, turtles, sea stars, as well as the possibility of swimming with the most playful animals of the Galapagos, the sea lions. Fortunately all predictions were correct, and they were all there waiting for us!
Our next destination was an island that looks very much like a Chinese hat, and well deserves its name, Sombrero Chino. We began the afternoon with a deep water snorkeling session along the coast of an island just in front of Sombrero Chino. There were many different types of large and small colorful fish there, and we also found large white-tipped reefs sharks lying on the bottom, and a couple of sea lions came to entertain the snorkelers with their amazing charm and moves. Something truly unexpected in this part of the world is a penguin, but this island is home for the only tropical penguin in the world, and is called the Galapagos penguin, because it lives and breeds here year round. We met one in the water and it stayed very close to us for some time before it swam away for fish. Others were standing on the rocks as we snorkeled around. Later on, we came back to this very same spot to take pictures of them on the rocks. Some were there, and not too far from them we found more wildlife, the beloved sea lions.
The day finished with an incredible sunset behind the hills of the island of Santiago and that was just another day in paradise.
