Sombrero Chino and Santiago Island
We are in the center of the Galápagos visiting Sombrero Chino. This is a small but amazing island! Here we explored the coast from the zodiacs. The shore is teeming with life of all types. At first glance you don’t see much until you get closer; sally light foot crabs graze on seaweed all over the shore alongside marine iguanas.
Herons, blue footed boobies and sea lions are also part of this great show of life. As we explore the coast we encountered penguins fishing. Seeing Galápagos penguins foraging was possibly the best of the sightings in the early activities. Later on we explored the undersea realm. It was stunning having encounters with harmless white tipped reef sharks and marine iguanas foraging underwater.
Later this morning we spent time on a little white sandy beach with beautiful turquoise water. Moments later we walked towards a sea lion colony. This place was also vibrant and full of life! It is the breeding season for the Galápagos sea lions; pups are the amusement on the shore! Not only marine mammals are present here – also the magnificent raptor of the Islands: the Galapagos Hawk. There was a family of Galápagos hawks foraging on the shore among sea lions.
In the afternoon we repositioned the ship and disembarked at Sullivan Bay on Santiago Island. This place is a vast lava flow. It looks very new even though it was created at the end of the 1800s. It seems like a long time ago, but in geological terms it is like the blink of an eye! We started our expedition in this magical place visiting the oldest islands of the archipelago and right now we are visiting a young lava flow – still shiny, still new looking with the typical patterns of basaltic lava flows.
Today was an amazing day, full of activities and many surprises!
