Even though we are now in the middle of the cool, dry season, we have been enjoying some magnificent weather this week! Today we got a sunny day and took advantage! We woke up and left to climb the summit of the old parasitic volcano that forms Bartolomé Island.
At 6:30 a.m. we disembarked; our intrepid travelers followed a long wooden path from which we could observe endless volcanic features like lava tubes, spatter cones, craters, and cindery slopes. Along the trail we first found lava lizards, a few Darwin finches, and some birds gliding around. At the top of Bartolome we observed a breathtaking view, the amazing landscapes of various lava fields of different ages dominating this majestic panorama. Bartolome Island is the iconic view of Galapagos; it is like our Eiffel Tower.
Later in the morning, we visited the beach next to the famous Pinnacle Rock, an impressive column of very eroded tuff rock. A small colony of endemic Galapagos penguins inhabit this beautiful area, and we saw a few of them while they were hunting schools of small fish. A few Galapagos sea lions were also around. Meanwhile, the underwater world was an exciting experience: swimming marine iguanas and penguins, panamic and chocolate chip sea stars, reef sharks, and parrot fishes among others. Everyone was fascinated with snorkeling or just glass-bottom boating along the shoreline.
Then in the afternoon we moved our ship not far away to visit Chinese Hat, a flat top old cone standing close to the west coast of James Islands. Here the snorkeling is spectacular; sting rays, penguins, and sharks are the stars of this big show and some marine iguanas feeding a few feet underwater were also remarkable. After 45 minutes of water activities we came on board, got dressed, and went back to this area to explore it on our Zodiacs. We went in search of Galapagos penguins. These small aquatic birds are found on black lava and swimming on warm water close to Equator. They are remarkable! When we think about penguins we relate them with cold places, but here it is different. They are just basking on the rocks under the fierce equatorial sun.
At the end of the day it was a bit overcast, but the sunset broke the grey sky. For a few minutes it turned red and orange, then later the black mantle of the night covered all of us. Pleased, we returned to our ship, having great memories in our minds.
