Bartolomé Island
Our first full day in the Galápagos started with a lot of excitement. Shortly after we disembarked we found ourselves inside of what many of us describe as a text book of geology! The barren landscapes of Bartolomé Island clearly revealed the highly specialized techniques that the organisms that arrived to this ecosystem had to go through. Not many plants in the island had limited the amount of animal species found on land, but the coastal area and the marine ecosystem that surrounds it is very rich.
After our walk to conquer the top of Bartolomé hill, we headed to an unexpected encounter, dolphins! They were spotted in the distance by one of the naturalist, and were quickly identified as bottlenose dolphins. Identifying them was not enough, so we all decided to have a closer look and boarded the fleet of Zodiacs and headed to their encounter. Hundreds of dolphins literally surrounded the Zodiacs and we all end up having a great time!
After breakfast we landed on a small beach with a golden hue; this was our gateway to swimming, snorkeling and to explore the southern beach and its large sea turtle nesting colony.
It was really hard to leave this place, as the water temperatures tempt us to remain in the water snorkeling for hours. The thought of our future visit to an equally beautiful island in the afternoon gave us comfort, and indeed it was a beautiful afternoon.
Our navigation was characterized by a downpour as we are in the middle of the rainy season. As if requested, the rain stopped the minute we dropped anchor off the bay, so we fully enjoyed the walk and the whole afternoon with clear skies and dry clothing!
Just to add a little more fun to the afternoon, some of our younger guests jumped from the platform on board the ship, cannon balling and back flipping into the warm waters surrounding this real paradise on earth, Galápagos!
