Sombrero Chino & Santiago
Everyone was up bright and early in anticipation of seeing a species that we all feel is a most surprising find here in Galápagos—the penguin! We all hopped in the Zodiacs for a pre-breakfast cruise past Sombrero Chino (an ancient volcano cone that really does look like a piece of the headgear used in the Asian fields). It took no more than 10 minutes of keeping our eyes trained on the shore of the adjacent Santiago that we were rewarded with the sight of a solitary, preening Galápagos penguin perched on the lava rock and preparing to start his search for breakfast. As we continued along the shore, we saw iguanas slowly sunning, striated herons intently searching the shallows for snacks, and several schools of many types of fish racing below us. Further along during our ride we came upon another single penguin coming up for a breath, only to duck beneath the water to continue his hunt.
After our own delicious breakfast, we felt a desire to return to the area with our snorkel equipment, and were lucky to swim along with one of these tuxedoed gentlemen for a bit, as well as with many types of fish, including the King Angelfish and the Black Striped Salema, a reef shark and a sting ray or two (both a safe distance below us!), and a lone sea lion playing in one of the tiny bays cut in along the shore. We meandered through currents both warm and cool, delighting in another easy Galápagos morning.
On the way to our afternoon destination on Santiago, we cruised right by one volcano crater in the Bainbridge Islets, dead long ago, that now attracts another unusual bird species—the flamingo! We raced to the sky deck to witness 24 gorgeous tangerine-colored birds collected on the far side of the water, some engaging in mating dances, raising their wings one, or both, at a time. Because they were so far from us, I found myself hoping one of our members with the gargantuan telephoto lenses captured a close-up so I can study these beautiful birds later.
Upon reaching Santiago, we immediately sent one contingent to a small beach for more swimming and snorkeling (it’s hard to get enough time in the water here in Galápagos—it’s the perfect temperature right now in March!), and then a second for a fiery hot hike on the lava flow to capture in photographs the whorls and swirls frozen in stone. The kids at the beach also took a short walk with Antonio to perfect their nature photography skills. Later a tiny group of us took another Zodiac ride to view the different types of rock from the water; the sharp, black a’a lava as well as the smooth ropy pahoehoe lava were both in evidence as we approached the shore. I captured a few last penguin shots before we turned the Zodiac back toward the National Geographic Islander. As the sun slowly dropped to Earth, it was obvious that it has been another perfect day in the Galápagos Islands.
