Bartolomé and Sombrero Chino Islands
We started out with an early morning pre-breakfast outing with a “non-stop to the top” hike that started right at the cement jetty of Bartolome Island. The stairs built by the Park Service took us up to the summit of the volcano where the lighthouse is placed. We did our climb in 15 minutes and had a wonderful opportunity to take our classic pictures of Pinnacle Rock. Bartolomé is just lava and volcanic ash with some pioneer plants growing here and there. The organisms – mainly small lava lizards – that inhabit the area are the showcases of the process of colonization on a barren island. As we started to go down the stairs, we had a chance to observe the lava formations and the surrounding islands that make the scenery here one of the iconic views of the archipelago.
We decided to explore the underwater world of Bartolomé, as the waters around Pinnacle Rock are full of interesting life. The water temperature has decreased this time of the year, and 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. Today the warm equatorial sun kept us happy, for it illuminated displays of color all around us. Some of us were lucky to see Galápagos penguins, diamond sting rays, sea lions and white-tipped reef sharks. As soon as we were all back on board we started navigating to our next destination, Sombrero Chino.
In the afternoon, as the National Geographic Endeavour navigated to the central part of the archipelago to anchor close to Chinese Hat; the wonderful geological features of these islands make it seem like life has just begun here, struggling for establishment. Our captain stopped our vessel at Bainbridge Islet, to see a wonderful brackish water lagoon with flamingos living inside of its crater, a very old tuff cone standing on the ocean. A few minutes later we arrived to our final destination.
Our snorkeling was terrific; plenty of fish and penguins feeding on them, sting rays and multicolored sea urchins decorating the sea bed. After this water exploration we went to ride on our Zodiacs along the coast looking for some Galápagos penguins basking on the black lava rocks; we found them and our mission was accomplished. The sunset was spectacular and some sea lions were coming back to land to rest as our day was ending.
As we get back to the ship at sunset time we understand the true sense of pristine places, where life has given us the opportunity to understand its processes, the fragile early stages that are the very basis of life on our planet. Bartolome Island is very well known for the most beautiful landscapes of this archipelago; we leave the island as virtually untouched as we first encountered it this morning…
