Bartolomé & Santiago Islands
After an outstanding first visit to the Galápagos yesterday afternoon, we woke up energized and ready for another adventure. The island of Bartolomé filled our expectations. The ocean around was perfectly still making our ride on board the Zodiacs extremely smooth. That gave our guests the satisfaction of making their own discoveries along side the shore line.
We strolled the boardwalk built expressively by the Park Service to diminish the impact visitors have on the trail. This walk not only provided us with a good warm up to the natural “Stairmaster” (over 300 stairs built to scale Bartolomé's peak) but, also brought us to a place where it is possible to have a spectacular view of the archipelago. We saw our vessel anchored at the distance and we took the opportunity to have the obligatory scenic picture.
Later, we had the chance to swim and snorkel with penguins. How delightful these little creatures are when totally oblivious to our presence – they just went about their business of catching fish! Seeing that helped to build up some expectations regarding the lunch awaiting us on board. The Ecuadorian feast was impressive and after taking a good set of pictures capturing the diversity of the spread, we proceeded to eat – everyone was very satisfied!
The visit to Puerto Egas in the afternoon came with a big array of surprises. The temperature of the ocean was exquisite and once again we swam with sea lions; nearby some penguins were accompanying the swimmers. The walk along the shoreline brought us to the grottos where despite the little number of fur seals that were present, several of them astonished us while eating recently caught tuna fish. Together with the sea lions were a number of pelicans, frigates and even storm petrels.
After an outstanding first visit to the Galápagos yesterday afternoon, we woke up energized and ready for another adventure. The island of Bartolomé filled our expectations. The ocean around was perfectly still making our ride on board the Zodiacs extremely smooth. That gave our guests the satisfaction of making their own discoveries along side the shore line.
We strolled the boardwalk built expressively by the Park Service to diminish the impact visitors have on the trail. This walk not only provided us with a good warm up to the natural “Stairmaster” (over 300 stairs built to scale Bartolomé's peak) but, also brought us to a place where it is possible to have a spectacular view of the archipelago. We saw our vessel anchored at the distance and we took the opportunity to have the obligatory scenic picture.
Later, we had the chance to swim and snorkel with penguins. How delightful these little creatures are when totally oblivious to our presence – they just went about their business of catching fish! Seeing that helped to build up some expectations regarding the lunch awaiting us on board. The Ecuadorian feast was impressive and after taking a good set of pictures capturing the diversity of the spread, we proceeded to eat – everyone was very satisfied!
The visit to Puerto Egas in the afternoon came with a big array of surprises. The temperature of the ocean was exquisite and once again we swam with sea lions; nearby some penguins were accompanying the swimmers. The walk along the shoreline brought us to the grottos where despite the little number of fur seals that were present, several of them astonished us while eating recently caught tuna fish. Together with the sea lions were a number of pelicans, frigates and even storm petrels.
