We started today with a walk before breakfast and climbed a wooden stairway all the way to the top of Bartolome Mountain. The sun was just beginning to rise on the horizon as we disembarked for our walk and immediately I was able to point out the endemic settler plants and describe their importance to the succession of life on a newly formed island. These islands come from the bottom of the sea up and when they surface the ocean they offer no nutrients for plants to grow. It is just an iron slab surrounded by salt water, so it takes a sturdy and special plant to colonize such a rough environment and open the way for other plants to benefit from the organic material that has accumulated, eventually leading to soil formation.
It is like going back in time! That is how I describe to get our guests to the importance of these settler plants in the succession of life. They are called tiquilia, mollugo, lava cactus and chamaesyce and one cannot underestimate their importance (in getting all the fauna and flora you see on these islands today) for without them colonization would take a lot longer time if at all.
After breakfast we snorkeled and left for Rabida or The Red Island. Rabida is older and had more time to rust. Here we snorkeled again and went for a short shore walk afterwards.
Another wonderful day comes to an end.
