Today we woke up anchored at the island of Bartolome, and the day started off with a delicious breakfast. In the morning, our guests had the chance to choose between two different alternatives. The first option was hiking, which involves walking all the way up to the top of a volcanic cone and being able to admire the most iconic and photographed view of the Galapagos, the very famous Bartolome pinnacle. Here they learned a little bit more about geology, as Bartolome is the perfect example of how the islands look when they are new in the geologic sense. Every single island in the Galapagos is volcanic, and they all come from the same hotspot, located on the western side of the archipelago. Galapagos is on top of the Nazca tectonic plate, which moves every year about three inches to the east, meaning that the young islands will be on the west and the old ones on the east.
The second option was to spend some time at the beach, which was just perfect for the kids! The main mission of today’s expedition was to spot the Galapagos penguin, the third tiniest penguin in the world and the only penguin that lives in the northern hemisphere. During the morning we succeeded, and our guests were able to see the penguins and even snorkel with them! What an amazing experience.
In the afternoon, we enjoyed our Mexican buffet lunch with awesome margaritas. After some activities with the young explorers and a photography talk, we continued exploring the coasts of Sombrero Chino with different water activities, kayaking, paddleboarding, glass-bottom boat outings and snorkeling. Conditions were just perfect today, clear water and a large variety of fishes were definitely the highlight of our day. What an amazing and successful day we had!
