Our last full day on our expedition in the Galapagos we visited one of the oldest islands in the archipelago, San Cristobal, located at the eastern most point.
This morning we explored Punta Pitt. From here to the east we could reach main land Ecuador at about 1000 kilometer or 600 nautical miles. Punta Pitt is the home of red footed boobies and our census revealed the numbers are far more than we could see because they forage far from our visitor sites in the open ocean, unlike the blue footed and Nazca boobies. Today we were close to their nesting site and were rewarded. A parent was incubating an egg and future red footed booby.
We were pleased to observe its geological features. This island has been eroded for about 4, maybe 5 million years and we now could find traces of broken small pieces of lava weathered by time. This week it’s as if we have traveled through time from the youngest island, Fernandina, to one of the oldest and the difference is clear.
After we left our green olivine beach we repositioned the ship to our next destination. We are headed to Cerro Brujo with over a mile long sandy beach with turquoise waters. We were accompanied by our ever-present friends the sea lions and birds of different kinds like the American Oyster catcher and their two little chicks. We walked along and enjoyed the sunset while we remembered the fun times we’ve had in the Galapagos. This week has been phenomenal, difficult to describe.
We shared this moment in time immersed with the unique wildlife that had no fear. The feeling of coexistence and respect for one another, isolated in a world that can never be explained with words nor pictures is truly moving. We are very fortunate to be here. Tomorrow we are returning to our realities, but we are very aware of how special our time was and will remember whenever we hear the word Galapagos.
