Sombrero Chino and Sullivan Bay
It began as a cloudy day with a lot of expectations—as it was the day we expected to see endemic Galápagos penguins.
The activities began with a Zodiac ride along the coast of Santiago and a small island in front of it named Sombrero Chino. During the ride we saw several brown pelicans and an interesting pair of sea lions playing with a bullseye puffer. They flipped it, letting it go and then picking it up again, and tossing it over the rocks only to pick it up a few seconds later. A brown pelican approached them, probably to try to get a free meal, however that might have not been a very good idea as these species of fish can be poisonous. Probably the young sea lions knew it as they never ate it, just played with it, hopefully to develop the skills they will need later in life to survive on their own.
After the Zodiac ride, we got ready to go in the water to snorkel, and a great surprise awaited there. Besides the many colorful tropical fish we observed, several of the explorers saw two white-tipped reef sharks, the young ones were as expected the most fearless and excited about these encounters with such magnificent creatures. The sharks were being harassed by two young sea lions that swam among the group of snorkelers, it was impossible to know if they were the same ones that less than half an hour ago played with the puffer fish, so if they were the same ones this time they decided to fine tune their skills with a bigger fish. At least our young explorers had the chance to see the sharks before the young sea lions’ playful actions moved the sharks away.
During the afternoon we had a very interesting time while the young explorers took some Zodiac driving lessons. It was a windy afternoon and as could be expected the thrill of the experience was to go over the swells and make such sharp turns that some on the Zodiac got wet. Driving a Zodiac at a young age must be a great way to get used to the ocean.
The visit to Sullivan Bay and its impressive lava field showed us the kind of landscape and terrain that the animals that first colonized the Galápagos Islands had to survive in; as we walked for some moments it felt as if being on the moon, although a grasshopper jumping every now and then reminded us that it was another of the wonderful sites of this unique place. On the way back to National Geographic Islander the expectations began to build up as we had not seen a Galápagos penguin yet, but as we returned we had a rock with two penguins resting and preening themselves, the sun had settled and probably it was time to be back home, after taking some pictures we returned to the ship to review the memories of this unique day.
