San Cristobal Island
Located on San Cristobal Island is Punta Pitt, our next visitor site. This island is one of the oldest, formed by numerous volcanoes. Today we landed on a green olivine beach formed by crystals, also termed peridote. The volcanic scenery that we observed during our intense hike is spectacular; the peaks of tuff high in the sky make this site very different from what we have already observed.
Today we searched for red-footed boobies as we climbed up the island and a few of us decided to see them from the comfort of a Zodiac as we rode along the shore.
Punta Pitt also has impressive scenery from up above – here we can see the position of the sun and are able to tell the direction of the sea breeze. All our senses become sharpened; our sense of smell kicks in and we can now actually hear our surroundings. We have become one with nature.
Our guest Juliet Purll has a few words to share:
“Consistent with our other day’s hikes, on San Cristobal we saw the true Galápagos. The land feels pristine, very little marks from humans, allowing us to experience the land and animals. Along the trek up we can see the white marks showing us where to look the prize for today’s journey: red-footed boobies. After heading upward stepping on rocks in a dry river bed, we came from between tall rocks to open out to high vistas showing breaking waves on both sides of the mountain. We then walked along the precipice until our naturalist Celso held his finger to his lips in an effort to quiet us. We softly stepped toward the edge of the wall and looked down. There a red-footed booby was sitting mere feet below our shoes. Success! With our warm feeling of finding our day’s treasure, we walked back across the ridge. While there, all in our group stopped and sat listening to the ocean and the birds, feeling the wind, imagining flight, never wanting to leave these Enchanted Islands.”
Juliet Purll
Later we reposition to Kicker Rock, an impressive tuff formation standing massive out of the shoreline. We circumnavigated as the sun was setting, remembering this is the place where we just snorkeled with Galápagos sharks, rays, turtles, sea lions, fish and friends. We are now together, embracing this lovely time as we have been bonded by this magical touch. Today is our last full day in the islands.
Our expedition is now over; life goes on, but we are now sure this place has changed many lives, a place which can never be fully described. Can you help us, dear reader? How can we portray that our senses bring us back to nature and we become one with our surroundings? Finally understanding and coexisting with it all. Now it all makes sense to all our guests. I hope to see you some time.
