Bartolomé Island and Chinese Hat
We had a pre-breakfast outing to the top of Bartolomé Island, where we explored all the small volcanoes along an interesting moonscape on this very barren and rusty-colored place. Along with volcanoes, the landscape offered solidified lava flows, endemic cacti and, once at the summit, one of the most beautiful scenes in the islands.
Exploring the underwater world around Pinnacle Rock was one of the morning options of our expedition. The temperature of the water has decreased this time of the year but life was plenty as cooler waters have more productivity. Galápagos sea lions, Galápagos penguins and sharks were spotted as well as a wide variety of tropical fish. The golden-sand beach on the north side of Bartolomé had some amazing shiny colors, due to the amount of olivine in it (a semi-precious stone).
In the afternoon, the National Geographic Endeavour navigated to the central part of the archipelago to finally arrive at Chinese Hat. This place has wonderful geological features and it seems like life was just established here a few years ago. Some Galápagos penguins were seen on the young lava flows that meet the ocean on the coast of Santiago Island. We had a great time snorkeling along the coastline, where some of us saw white-tipped reef sharks, some rays, and even penguins in the water again.
A zodiac ride was offered at sunset to explore the life on the coastline of Santiago; we got some great pictures with perfect light in the volcanic landscape.
