Sombrero Chino and Sullivan Bay
Sombrero Chino and Sullivan Bay were our two visiting sites for today; both are located in the central part of the Galápagos archipelago.
In the morning after our breakfast, we went for Zodiac cruise to explore the coastal part of Sombrero Chino and Santiago Islands. We saw marine iguanas, striated herons, sea lions and Galápagos penguins, among other creatures.
The deep water snorkeling later in the morning was perhaps the most popular activity. The day was very hot and the water temperature was tepid, so most of our guests jumped in and returned very happy after finding big schools of fish, a white tipped reef shark, a manta ray, marine iguanas feeding and a very curious penguin that was very close to us. The great diversity at this snorkeling site was one of the week’s highlights.
In the afternoon we dropped anchor in Sullivan Bay, where lava flowed as recently as 100 years ago. The first to depart for Sullivan Bay were the snorkelers. This time the snorkeling was a little different, it started from a small white sandy beach that is right next to the lava field, sea lions and spotted eagle rays were swimming near us.
After the water activities we returned to Sullivan for our lava hike. Walking here is like exploring a different planet. The pahoehoe lava and the scoria are more predominant; Sullivan Bay is like an open book of geology.
As the sun set we headed back to the ship and got ready for a barbeque on the sundeck of National Geographic Islander.
