Each site or city around the world has a very distinguishable icon: New York with the Statue of Liberty, Paris and the Eiffel Tower, and so on. Here in Galápagos our most famous place is Bartolomé and its Pinnacle Rock; where some parts of the Hollywood movie Master and Commander were filmed few years ago. To talk about Bartolomé Island is to describe an open book of geology; here, there, you see many volcanic formations that lend the island the appearance of a moonscape. This morning we are starting our day early. At 6:30 a.m. we disembarked to climb all the way to the summit, where you see several of the islands surrounding Galápagos. Along our path were some lava lizards and a few finches. After the hike we snorkeled around Pinnacle Rock and got the chance to spot some white-tip reef sharks, several parrotfish feeding, big schools of yellow tailed razor surgeons, and sea lions arrived to entertain our guests in the water. Several outing of the glass-bottom boat were also offered. Some of us decided to just enjoy the beach and go for a refreshing swim.
During the afternoon we navigated towards Chinese Hat; this visitor site is a satellite islet of Santiago Island. We anchored and got our Zodiacs ready for the explorers. We decided to go deep water snorkeling along the coast of Santiago. The water was a bit warmer; we were lucky to encounter more sharks, marine iguanas feeding out of the water, and some Galápagos penguins. Several species of sea stars were covering the ocean floor; some coral heads and sandy bottoms were the main habitat for several species of fish. After snorkeling, some of us went on a Zodiac ride along the resting and nesting grounds of the Galápagos penguins. It was just odd to find penguins near the Equator, and even more rare to find penguins on a lava flow with cacti in the background. But again, this is Galápagos so everything is possible to amaze us!
