Bartolomé & Chinese Hat
At 6:15 in the morning and we we’re ready to start a new adventure—the conditions were perfect for it. We headed to the landing and started to walk to the summit of the island, which is at about 420 feet. Some years ago the National Park Service decided to build a staircase of 376 wooden steps to facilitate an easy climb for visitors and also to prevent erosion as the island is mostly crumbling volcanic ash.
This is a place with interesting geology, and it looks very much like moonscape or the planet Mars as the rocks are barren and red pigmented from iron. This is also a location that helps us understand what these islands looked like at the beginning of the colonization by animals and plants. Very little lives here, with the exception of a few like a small kind of cactus appropriately called Galápagos lava cactus. This is among a group of pioneering plants adapted to extreme conditions—in the case of this with lack of soil, shade, and water. Getting to the top of this island is relatively easy, and once you get there you enjoy a panoramic view of the most incredible landscape of the Galapagos Islands. In the distance appear many neighboring islands to make it more interesting and magical.
After such beautiful views we headed back on board for breakfast, and later on to we get ready to go to the beach to swim and those that choose to snorkel go a little further out into the ocean for incredible underwater life: sharks and lots of fish, some in big schools and others in aggregations, some animals resting on the rocks watching us pass, sea lions, boobies, frigates, herons, and sometimes the Galápagos penguin.
After returning to the ship we had lunch and started to navigate to the island of Chinese Hat, not too far away from Bartolomé. The activities started a while after lunch, and young explorers to learned how to drive a Zodiac, which was a lot of fun, they definitely got it as didn’t want to end.
Later we went deep-water snorkeling off the coast of Santiago Island in front of Sombrero Chino. The conditions were excellent and we saw a lot of fish, sharks, rays among other species, a few penguins on the rocks and others in the water catching fish—altogether they made this session hilarious and one we’ll remember.
Back on board we took a quick turnaround and go back to the same area, this time with cameras in hand to enjoy the beauty of this place and also that of its wildlife. These wonderful northernmost penguins in the world stood on the rocks after feeding sessions and gave us great chances for photography as they seem to be posing surrounded by dark basalts and bright orange crabs.
It was a great day in Galápagos.
