Today was our first full day of activities and this morning National Geographic Islander guests were very excited to go out and start exploring our archipelago. That's the reason we offer a pre-breakfast activity: the idea was to get to the top of Bartolome Island before it was too hot. Once at the top we enjoyed one of the most iconic views in the Galapagos. During this time of the year the sun rises a bit earlier than normal and that makes a big difference to an equatorial country and we made the most of it because we had a lot to accomplish today.
After our amazing hike we disembarked onto a beautiful golden beach for something that everyone was waiting for--water activities. Galapagos is very well known for its marine life and we had the chance to swim with marine reptiles, sea lions, sea birds, and lots of fish. There are only a few places on earth where one can have the privilege to swim with all of these animals at the same time.
In the afternoon, after a much deserved nap, we anchored our ship for a new adventure on a different Island. Rabida Island has just one visitor site on the entire island, but it offers conditions for hikes, water activities, kayaking, and beach activity as well.
Today we had the opportunity to snorkel twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and both of them were very interesting and very different. Everyone was commenting about their sightings in the water- sharks, rays, turtles, sea lions, penguins, marine iguanas, and a lot of fishes of different species all in a single day.
Our final activity of the day was to enjoy an amazing natural phenomenon known as the Super Moon where the moon appears 30% brighter and 20% bigger than normal. Its only possible to see this once or twice in a lifetime.
