In the early hours of the day, we started our first walk of the day on Bartolomé Island; this is one of the best places to learn about the geology of the archipelago. On our way up to the summit, we observed the orange rusty lava flows, the large spatter cones, several small lava tubes and also some of the plants that colonized these volcanic features long ago. At the end of our walk and right from the top of an old cinder cone, we took a moment to enjoy the most famous view of Galapagos. After this hike, we returned aboard to have breakfast and to get ready to go deep water snorkeling while others went to a nearby beach, or went for a ride on our glass bottom boat.
At the end of the morning, we navigated to Sombrero Chino islet. This afternoon we went snorkeling from the Zodiacs, and also offered alternatives of kayaking, or a visit to the beach. After the water activities, we returned to have a Zodiac ride along the coast and to look for Galapagos penguins, and we found some of these birds resting on some lava rocks while pelicans, blue-footed boobies and frigatebirds looked very busy fishing around the area. As we were observing the volcanic landscape, we were fortunate to spot a lonely Galapagos shark slowly swimming along the coast of Sombrero Chino.
We returned to our ship as the sun began to disappear behind the horizon, and the sky turned pink and red—it was a great way to end our day.
