San Cristobal is one of the oldest islands in Galapagos, and is located in the southeastern part of the archipelago. This island offers the opportunity to understand the effects of erosion over a three-million-year period. Our first visit was to Punta Pitt on the northern side of the island. The disembarkation takes place on a greenish sand beach, formed by volcanic ash and crystalized minerals. The trail took our groups along a riverbed canyon that exposes the history of several volcanic events along the way. Lava lizards and San Cristobal mockingbirds accompanied us to the top of the plateau. Here we found red-footed booby nests, which consist of well-fixed dry branches that were collected from yellow cordia bushes in the area. This spectacular site gave us the chance to see blue-footed and red-footed boobies nesting all around. After our walk we visited the beach to swim with very playful sea lions. And finally, on the way back to our ship, we were raced by a big pod of bottlenose dolphins!
We finished our expedition in these magical islands visiting one of the most outstanding beaches of the archipelago. This beach has lovely soft sand, and we spent the whole afternoon swimming and relaxing. Here we had time to reconnect on many different levels with nature and ourselves. The sunset behind the famous Kicker Rock ended this beautiful day.
