Bartolomé Island & Sullivan Bay
This morning on the second day of our expedition we visited Bartolomé Island. There is a beautiful formation here known as Pinnacle Rock, which is one of the most striking examples of a tuff cone, a vertical rock formation of hardened ash. The small island of Bartolomé is located off the eastern shore of Santiago Island. We climbed to the summit of this island, 312 feet, to see an incredible volcanic landscape of rust-colored “spatter cones” contrasting with large pale tuff cones and sooty lava flows. The view is not only educational but inspiring. After this visit we returned to National Geographic Islander for breakfast.
Ready for our next activity, we landed at a golden beach to swim and snorkel beneath the Galápagos waves. The underwater world of the Galápagos Islands is fascinating and still harbors a lot surprises, for it has been hardly explored – especially at great depths. We observed an array of creatures such as Galápagos penguins, sea lions and an interesting mix of tropical fish including yellow-tailed Surgeonfish, white-banded Angelfish and blue-eyed Damselfish.
We returned to the ship after our water activities ready for lunch. This time our culinary team proudly unveiled a typical Ecuadorian lunch, created with tropical spices, colors and ingredients which produced a succulent results. After lunch, our guests had their choice of a “siesta” or an impressive introduction of the islands by our Expedition Leader Carlos Romero.
At 4:00 we had our second outing to Sullivan Bay on Santiago Island, this place offers a rare look at a recently formed lava field. The eruptions are thought to have taken place around 1890. This is recent enough in geological terms, and it was like walking back in time to the beginning of it all, a combination between young lava and nature. We got to see the smooth “pahoehoe” lava flow and rubbly surfaced and called “AA” (after the Hawaiian for “hurt”), and just like a cute decoration, the endemic lava cactus.
We enjoyed the very nice landscape as we left the island behind. A lovely day is fading in time and will never come back. We are hoping to continue our incredible experiences tomorrow.
