Our exploration of the Galapagos Archipelago continues, and Bartholomew Island was our first destination today. Our guests went ashore this morning for an invigorating walk to the top of this island, where we all had the chance to enjoy the best view in the archipelago. This island gives the best opportunity to observe and learn about the geology of the Galapagos archipelago, because the pioneer plants as well as the different lava flows show the examples of the processes that formed this archipelago.
We returned to the National Geographic Endeavour for breakfast, and afterwards some of our guests went ashore once more to spend some time on the beach. We had the opportunity to go snorkeling from the beach, while others had a great time walking along the shore, observing Galapagos penguins swimming amongst some of guests.
At the end of the morning, everyone was back on board and then the ship navigated to an island known as Chinese Hat, where our guests had another opportunity to go swimming. This was a snorkeling site, as the water was clear and everyone was thrilled by all the different species of fish found in this area. Later on in the afternoon, we returned once more to go for a Zodiac ride along the coast of Santiago Island and Chinese Hat Islet; the light was great for photography and there were some sightings of Galapagos sea lions resting on the rocks as well as a Galapagos hawk flying above the rusty lava flows of Chinese Hat.
At the end of the afternoon we returned to the National Geographic Endeavour and enjoyed a delicious barbeque dinner in the company of the bright moon.
