This morning sailed the National Geographic Islander to a place surrounded with many small geological formations, most of them are tuff and spatter cones. They are formed by secondary vents and in Galapagos we have many of them. The Geological features in this area are impressive and the marine life is abundant as well. This bay is also the home to a small Galapagos penguin colony.
We started our morning activity with a Zodiac ride in order to get a close up look of the impressive lava formation and to enjoy the wildlife. For the very first time we had a chance to see one of the smallest penguins on earth which are endemic to Galapagos and the only penguin that lives in the north hemisphere. We also spotted striated herons catching crabs and small fish along the coastline of Santiago Island which is located next to Sombrero Chino Island.
The conditions for snorkeling couldn’t have been better this morning. The Pacific Ocean was so calm and its waters were crystal blue and the sunlight was just perfect, so we went back to the same location for snorkeling and this time we saw white tipped sharks resting in borrows, Galapagos sea lions playing as usual and big schools of fish to make our experience unforgettable.
Right after lunch we started sailing toward our next destination, but on our way the Captain decided to pass very close to one of the small Islands called Bainbridge rocks. Inside the crater of the islet there is a lagoon where we found some flamingos feeding.
For the afternoon we disembarked on Santiago Island over a fresh lava flow named Sullivan Bay. This whole area was covered with molted rock in 1897 when an eruption took place. This place very barren and the colonization of plants is slowly reemerging. Along the trail we saw very interesting geological features such as lava tunnels, Pahoehoe and AA lava flows, cinder cones and a few pioneer species.
It was another wonderful day in paradise where we encountered unique Galapagos animals on every single excursion.
