Bartolomé & Santiago Islands
Today we started our activities a little early. We wanted to enjoy as much as possible our last full day discovering the wonderful ecosystems of the Galápagos Islands. We landed on a very beautiful island, Bartolomé, which is open book of geology. The landscape is stunning. We reached 114 meters above sea level from a very nice lookout point! There were many pioneer plants, Tiquilia, Chamaesyc. We took many pictures and the light was perfect; we arrived just in time to see the sun rising. After our walk to the summit of the island we went back for a well-deserved breakfast and later in the morning we continued with our activities.
We did some snorkeling in calm turquoise waters off Bartolomé Island; the diversity of marine life in this side was great. Galápagos penguins are often seen. The Galápagos Islands has an interesting mix of tropical and temperate types of fish. Water temperature is known to fluctuate from a cool 15°C to a warm 29 °C ( low 60's to high 70's °F) depending on time of the year and site, thus providing a range of temperature regimes. Fish are divided into two main groups: the cartilaginous, such as the white tipped reef sharks, sting rays; and the bony fishes, such as the large-banded blenny, sergeant major, yellow- bellied triggerfish, yellow- tailed surgeonfish.
In the afternoon after our lunch, we set sail to Puerto Egas, a nice bay located on the north western part of Santiago Island. We landed on a black sandy beach where our guests were offered a wonderful walk along the coastal part of Puerto Egas. Human history of the area – duel between Gamble and Cowan from Captain Porter`s Essex in 1813. Twice there were colonies here to mine the salt in the 1926. Also Charles Darwin spent 9 days of his 19 on land, 5 week in the islands.
These first inhabitants introduced pigs, goats and donkeys. With help from donations by our guests the National Park Service has eradicated pigs and goats. This is the first island of its size cleared of these large mammals in the world! Santiago was a training project for the larger island of Isabela and both projects were a huge success. First eradicate the pigs, then the goats. Two species that were thought to be extinct have been re-discovered: a phlox flower and the Santiago rice rat.
Our photography group had a great time taking good picture. In this site we encountered sea birds, Galápagos sea lions, and fur seals resting on lava fields. During the walk you could see some of the volcanoes of Isabela Island very close.
Finally everyone went back on the board, a little sad because they were leaving us tomorrow but most of them have the hope of coming back some day to these magical islands that will stay in their hearts forever.
