Today was our last full day in the magical Galapagos National Park yet our visitor’s site was completely new; it was like walking on the surface of a different planet. Punta Pit is the remnants of a giant tuff cone with an inorganic sandy beach at its base full of small crystals of olivine. Moreover some of the species of animals viewed at this site were endemic specifically to San Cristobal Island, therefore totally new for all of our guests.
Hiking at Punta Pit showed us great landscapes of the northeastern side of San Cristobal Island and a great diversity of species, including red-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, San Cristobal lava lizards, and Chatam mockingbirds.
After our morning’s activities we set sail towards Kicker Rock, an islet made out of an eroded tuff cone situated off the northern coast of San Cristobal Island. The weather conditions were very good and allowed us to find some sea birds during the navigation such as shearwaters and Nazca boobies.
Kicker Rock is also known by local people as león dormido (which means sleeping lion in English), because when seen from its southern side, it looks like a big lion in a resting position. This formation is a majestic piece of tuff nearly three hundred feet high with a channel in the middle which is a good scuba diving and snorkeling place.
In the afternoon we organized deep water snorkeling to Kicker Rock. All our guests were excited to be swimming in very deep waters, and we eventually lost count of the amount of sea turtles found. And some guests also saw a Galapagos shark!
After such an adventure full of adrenaline, we came back on board and circumnavigated Kicker Rock looking for sea birds, and the sunset was one of the most spectacular we have seen this week.
