Bartolomé Island
Early this morning we visited Bartolomé Island, the icon of Galápagos, a lonely pinnacle rock that stands out of the vast ocean and gives this island its unique character.
Looking at this island one is transported back in time to millions of years ago, when our magnificent planet and this unique archipelago was being formed and shaped by the extraordinary forces of lava, cinder, and ash, which are now are the main components of Bartolomé. At the same time that we feel we could be living in the past, we can also be witness of the forces of wind and water that eroded this soft tuff to produce such a majestic apex.
On the other side, all the way from the top we could view the brilliant spatter cones that gives us the feeling of a lunar landscape composed of many craters and valleys.
Behind Pinnacle Rock stands the third largest island of Santiago with its immense lava flow, Sullivan Bay. Only a century old, it reminds us how young these islands are.
After our visit and a hearty breakfast we landed on a golden beach for our water activities. People in the glass bottom boat were able to enjoy the marine life from a totally different perspective and the ones who were not willing to face the cold water enjoyed the dark golden sand and the surrounding landscape. The bravest that went in the cold water discovered that cold is good for penguins and different types of fish that get their food from this cold currents filled with plankton.
In the afternoon National Geographic Endeavour repositioned to a small island that could be seen from the top of Bartolomé, Sombrero Chino. However before we arrived the captain sailed close by a small islet, Bainbridge, so we could visit the lake that lies inside, home of flamingos.
The snorkeling in the channel between Sombrero Chino and Santiago was startling. There were schools of yellow tailed surgeon fish, white tips sharks, hundreds of rainbow wrasses and the lonely penguin that was fishing among us was the star of the afternoon.
To end a magical afternoon we went on a relaxing Zodiac ride along Santiago, where a young Galápagos hawk became the most photographed bird of the day, along with a lonely penguin that was getting ready to go into his nest, but before that posed for us one last time. With these unique creatures we close another enchanted day in paradise.
