Bartolomé & Santiago Islands
Our first full day in this expedition around the Galápagos brought us to the island of Bartolomé. Located off the eastern coast of Santiago Island, Bartolome is one of the most popular visitors’ sites in the Galápagos National Park. This is due to the fabulous volcanic features found in abundance in this small island. As we walked along the trail we were able to observe several spatter cones, lava tubes, cinder slopes and tuff cones. A boardwalk with 372 wooden steps helped us to go to the summit of Bartolome, where a breathtaking view of the entire area awaited us. After such a rewarding visit we the a chance to experience another corner of this beautiful island. After a well-earned breakfast we headed off to the orange-tinged beach of Bartolomé. Some of us chose to simply walk along the beach, others decided to practice some snorkeling in the calm waters of the bay. Today, the sea and air temperature definitely helped us, as it was a wonderful sunny morning! The underwater world offered us various amazing species, like king angel fishes, razor surgeons and white-tipped reef sharks amongst others.
Upon returning back on the National Geographic Islander, we started a mild navigation along the northern coast of Santiago Island in order to reach James Bay. This bay was once visited by Charles Darwin, who spent several days exploring this area. Like him, we landed here to explore it ourselves. In contrast with the morning beach, this time we landed at a black beach. The easy, pleasant trail took us along this rocky coast, and we could enjoy all the capricious shapes modeled in the soft tuff by the constant wave action. A young sea lion pup that had decided to ‘play’ with a group of marine iguanas by pulling their tails was everyone’s delight! Not far from it, a couple of American oystercatchers were looking for their evening meal in between the cracks in the rocks. The sea has created wonderful formations in this area, amongst them the grottos, former lava tunnels that are now the home of a small colony of fur sea lions.
It was certainly a delightful afternoon in the serene landscape of this uninhabited island. We cannot wait to start another day full of adventures in the Galápagos Islands.
Our first full day in this expedition around the Galápagos brought us to the island of Bartolomé. Located off the eastern coast of Santiago Island, Bartolome is one of the most popular visitors’ sites in the Galápagos National Park. This is due to the fabulous volcanic features found in abundance in this small island. As we walked along the trail we were able to observe several spatter cones, lava tubes, cinder slopes and tuff cones. A boardwalk with 372 wooden steps helped us to go to the summit of Bartolome, where a breathtaking view of the entire area awaited us. After such a rewarding visit we the a chance to experience another corner of this beautiful island. After a well-earned breakfast we headed off to the orange-tinged beach of Bartolomé. Some of us chose to simply walk along the beach, others decided to practice some snorkeling in the calm waters of the bay. Today, the sea and air temperature definitely helped us, as it was a wonderful sunny morning! The underwater world offered us various amazing species, like king angel fishes, razor surgeons and white-tipped reef sharks amongst others.
Upon returning back on the National Geographic Islander, we started a mild navigation along the northern coast of Santiago Island in order to reach James Bay. This bay was once visited by Charles Darwin, who spent several days exploring this area. Like him, we landed here to explore it ourselves. In contrast with the morning beach, this time we landed at a black beach. The easy, pleasant trail took us along this rocky coast, and we could enjoy all the capricious shapes modeled in the soft tuff by the constant wave action. A young sea lion pup that had decided to ‘play’ with a group of marine iguanas by pulling their tails was everyone’s delight! Not far from it, a couple of American oystercatchers were looking for their evening meal in between the cracks in the rocks. The sea has created wonderful formations in this area, amongst them the grottos, former lava tunnels that are now the home of a small colony of fur sea lions.
It was certainly a delightful afternoon in the serene landscape of this uninhabited island. We cannot wait to start another day full of adventures in the Galápagos Islands.
