Bartolomé & Santiago Island
Today was our first full day in paradise. Following an early morning wake-up call, and coffee, tea or hot chocolate in the lounge, we made a dry landing on the island of Bartolomé and followed a wooden stair case to the summit of this old eroded volcano. Three hundred and seventy three steps took us to an orange light house that the Ecuadorian Navy placed on top of Bartolomé several years ago.
On our way up, our naturalists explained why we must walk strictly inside the marked trail. The volcanic material is extremely fragile and any footprints outside the trail would leave marks for months. We saw Sally Lightfoot crabs below us on the shore, marine iguanas, and a striated heron fishing. As we walked many little lava lizards were coming out of their hiding places to take advantage of the morning dew that had collected on the tiny pioneer plants growing along the boardwalk.
Later, snorkeling was definitely a highlight of the morning; many of our guests snorkeled for their first time! We swam among curious Galápagos penguins, playful sea lions and a huge variety of colorful tropical schooling fish.
The afternoon stroll at Puerto Egas was combined with a second chance for snorkeling; almost everybody went for the second round of snorkeling on Santiago Island. The water was a perfect temperature of seventy-four degrees Fahrenheit and we all enjoyed ourselves. Some of us saw a sea turtle there!
The afternoon trail looped inland and then we returned along the shore. Near the end of the trail we saw the endemic fur seals resting in the shade of lava grottos to avoid the heat of the sun. There were also a lot of large marine iguanas basking beside the tidal pools and feeding on short green marine algae.
Back on board we sealed this perfect day with a cocktail on the sun deck of our good ship, the National Geographic Islander.
Today was our first full day in paradise. Following an early morning wake-up call, and coffee, tea or hot chocolate in the lounge, we made a dry landing on the island of Bartolomé and followed a wooden stair case to the summit of this old eroded volcano. Three hundred and seventy three steps took us to an orange light house that the Ecuadorian Navy placed on top of Bartolomé several years ago.
On our way up, our naturalists explained why we must walk strictly inside the marked trail. The volcanic material is extremely fragile and any footprints outside the trail would leave marks for months. We saw Sally Lightfoot crabs below us on the shore, marine iguanas, and a striated heron fishing. As we walked many little lava lizards were coming out of their hiding places to take advantage of the morning dew that had collected on the tiny pioneer plants growing along the boardwalk.
Later, snorkeling was definitely a highlight of the morning; many of our guests snorkeled for their first time! We swam among curious Galápagos penguins, playful sea lions and a huge variety of colorful tropical schooling fish.
The afternoon stroll at Puerto Egas was combined with a second chance for snorkeling; almost everybody went for the second round of snorkeling on Santiago Island. The water was a perfect temperature of seventy-four degrees Fahrenheit and we all enjoyed ourselves. Some of us saw a sea turtle there!
The afternoon trail looped inland and then we returned along the shore. Near the end of the trail we saw the endemic fur seals resting in the shade of lava grottos to avoid the heat of the sun. There were also a lot of large marine iguanas basking beside the tidal pools and feeding on short green marine algae.
Back on board we sealed this perfect day with a cocktail on the sun deck of our good ship, the National Geographic Islander.
