San Cristobal Island
People were waking up and moving around by the time the National Geographic Endeavour pulled into her anchorage off Punta Pitt, San Cristobal Island. This is the very farthest, northeasternmost point of the island, the easternmost point of the archielago, and the closest point to mainland South America. Charles Darwin would have seen the same barren mountainslopes that we saw this morning, when he first sailed by on the H.M.S. Beagle.
The rains have yet to catch San Cristobal, so the morning dawned brilliant and sunny, with a refreshing breeze to keep us company on the walk. Exercise hikers tackled the ravine trail and struck out across the plateau. The rewards were great: a red-footed booby pair in their nest…with an egg! The San Cristobal lava lizard was a sighting for the list as well – a unique species and found only here. The same can be said for the San Cristobal mockingbird…our only opportunity to see it, admire it, and check it off the list. After all, Charles Darwin made special mention of this land bird, recognizing there were separate species on different islands. They made a stronger impression on him than did the little brown and black birds now known as “Darwin’s finches!”
The Zodiac ride along the coast and around Islote Pitt was highly successful and made by all – even hikers got a visit before landing. Two species of frigatebird, red-billed tropicbird, swallow-tailed gull, Galápagos shearwaters, wandering tattlers, blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, red-footed boobies…phew! We saw them all.
The afternoon was saved for some end-of-the week details, downloading the best of images into what became a movie of our best shots (and they were good! To be expected after a week of training and instuction by our excellent team of photographers on board from National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions). Last-minute shopping; sorting of wanted and unwanted items before packing; attending a presentation by a staff member about his trip to Antarctica; and preparing for snorkeling.
Our last grand finale for snorklers was to head out by Zodiac, and then jump into the deep waters around this most massive of rocks in the middle of nowhere…hoping for sharks. And we saw! Black-tip, white-tip and Galápagos sharks were cruising the depths, while green sea turtles by the dozens hung quietly while cleaner wrasse and hogfish nibbled and removed parasites. One crevasse we swam into echoed the voice of a sea lion, floating easily on the surface, reminding all intruders of who owned the waters.
The late afternoon lighting made Leon Dormido glow as we circumnavigated the remnants of a tuff cone, isolated from the main island, eroded by time and sea. A wonderful ending to a unique week in our lives.
