We started with a Zodiac ride along the Coast of Santiago Island and Chinese hat. During the ride we saw brown pelicans, frigate birds and great blue herons catching fish in the tide pools. Our goal was to find Galapagos penguins and after searching for a few seconds we found a flock of around 10 of them fishing and basking on the surface of the ocean. The Galapagos penguin is the third smallest penguin in the world and it’s also the only one found over the northern hemisphere, over the equator line. After the ride we decided to jump in the blue water and go snorkeling to explore the magic of the Galapagos waters and all of its wonders. During our snorkeling outing we spotted a large variety of fish, colorful marine invertebrates and were lucky enough to spot a couple of Galapagos penguins in the water. We also discovered marine iguanas feeding underwater, grazing the algae off the rocks and a couple of white tip reef sharks were spotted. We also saw a large variety of fish swimming in schools.
After lunch, we had a dry landing on Sullivan Bay, a visitor site on Santiago Island. The experience here helped imagine traveling back in time, to explore the Galapagos islands as they were before they had a well established, complex ecosystem. There were interesting lava shapes, different colored minerals that occur as a result of their reaction with oxygen over time and some beautiful scenery. It was a perfect combination for a lovely afternoon on the island where Darwin spent nine days while he visited the islands in 1835. Darwin himself walked on this island and today we followed his footprints. It was a good taste of what primary succession looks like within island ecosystems.
We finished our day with a beautiful sunset and amazing memories of the ocean of lava found on Sullivan bay.
