Bartolomé & Santiago Islands
We started our first full day on the islands with an optional wake up call at six o clock. A lot of our guests have had very tiring flights and long trips to reach the Galápagos so many of them snoozed though this early outing. Nevertheless we did have two full Zodiacs that joined us on our hike up to the summit of the eroded cone of the islands of Bartolomé. We climbed up about three hundred feet on a wooden stair way that the Galápagos Park Service built to avoid the erosion we were causing in the area. A magnificent view of Bartolomé and the surrounding islands awaited us up there.
As we climbed back down, we observed a feeding frenzy, a couple dozen Galápagos penguins, some blue-footed boobies, brown noddy terns and even storm petrels were very eagerly feeding on a good school of tine sardines. You should have seen those agile penguins! They purposed like crazy trying to get as much food as they could, that was a real highlight and so much fun!
Our second outing in the morning was for snorkeling and some beach time. Almost everybody went into the water but two guests stayed behind with one of the naturalists and they had the best time of all in the company of a fabulous juvenile Galápagos hawk. It surrounded us first of all flying curiously above us, the he glided away just to turn back and sit some six feet away from us. There, he stared at us and then started preening himself; he spent about fifteen minutes there with us, that was a real highlight!
After a spectacular Ecuadorian buffet lunch we had a presentation on the Galápagos Park Service by one of our naturalists; at the same time, another naturalist was working with the kids on their nature journals. At 3:30 we wet landed on a black sand beach where our courageous and enthusiastic guests snorkeled once again. Then we all walked on the shores of Puerto Egas and enjoyed an array of fabulous and exotic wildlife. Finches, mocking birds, black anis, lava lizards, beautiful muyuyo, palo santo and opuntia trees were observed on the inland part of the trail. Afterwards on the shore we walked among big marine iguanas, saw the double furred sea lion and several species of shore birds such as black necked plovers, great blue heron and the beautiful oystercatcher.
It was definitely a full day filled with great wild highlights – we loved it!
We started our first full day on the islands with an optional wake up call at six o clock. A lot of our guests have had very tiring flights and long trips to reach the Galápagos so many of them snoozed though this early outing. Nevertheless we did have two full Zodiacs that joined us on our hike up to the summit of the eroded cone of the islands of Bartolomé. We climbed up about three hundred feet on a wooden stair way that the Galápagos Park Service built to avoid the erosion we were causing in the area. A magnificent view of Bartolomé and the surrounding islands awaited us up there.
As we climbed back down, we observed a feeding frenzy, a couple dozen Galápagos penguins, some blue-footed boobies, brown noddy terns and even storm petrels were very eagerly feeding on a good school of tine sardines. You should have seen those agile penguins! They purposed like crazy trying to get as much food as they could, that was a real highlight and so much fun!
Our second outing in the morning was for snorkeling and some beach time. Almost everybody went into the water but two guests stayed behind with one of the naturalists and they had the best time of all in the company of a fabulous juvenile Galápagos hawk. It surrounded us first of all flying curiously above us, the he glided away just to turn back and sit some six feet away from us. There, he stared at us and then started preening himself; he spent about fifteen minutes there with us, that was a real highlight!
After a spectacular Ecuadorian buffet lunch we had a presentation on the Galápagos Park Service by one of our naturalists; at the same time, another naturalist was working with the kids on their nature journals. At 3:30 we wet landed on a black sand beach where our courageous and enthusiastic guests snorkeled once again. Then we all walked on the shores of Puerto Egas and enjoyed an array of fabulous and exotic wildlife. Finches, mocking birds, black anis, lava lizards, beautiful muyuyo, palo santo and opuntia trees were observed on the inland part of the trail. Afterwards on the shore we walked among big marine iguanas, saw the double furred sea lion and several species of shore birds such as black necked plovers, great blue heron and the beautiful oystercatcher.
It was definitely a full day filled with great wild highlights – we loved it!
