Bartolome and Rabida Islands
As we started ascending to the summit of Bartolomé, the sun began to shine through the clouds. Not too long before starting the stairs part of this walk a Galapagos hawk welcomed us, perched on the handrail of the catwalk that would guide us to the top. The hawk presence was a premonition of things to come during this day.
Our legs began to feel heavier as we ascended the stairway to the top, passing along several cinder cones and colonies of the endemic lava cacti. Before we reached the top we found a small snake under the wooden steps, motionless in this cool morning, or maybe aware of the presence of the hawk we saw not too long ago. Finally we reached the top, where the landscape around us included several of the nearby islands. As we began to descend, surprises began to surface. Almost halfway down a hawk decided to perch on another handrail, but higher from our position at that time, so a change of plans was necessary. Several of us started going up again through those stairs, gasping for a little bit of air a very now and then. Then another hawk posed, but at a higher point, well that was too far up for us, especially after walking up to the summit, so we just descended back to the dock.
After this it was the time to jump in the water looking for the endemic Galapagos penguin, the most tropical of all penguin species on the planet. The Galapagos Islands is the only place on the planet where you can snorkel with a penguin and not have some of your body parts feeling extremely cold. Here it only takes a thin wetsuit for it to be possible to swim next to a penguin that usually goes by at a high speed, like a small torpedo.
During the afternoon the weather proved to be really unpredictable, we had some light rain, then a little bit of sun, and the heavier rain, but with the appropriate gear it was possible to enjoy every second on Rabida Island, as water fell on our rain gear.
Snorkeling on Rabida involved seeing some marine iguanas as they dove to get some algae, and kayaking included a school of bottlenose dolphins going by as we started to get onboard each kayak, as the light rain fell over us.
Then it was time for the land visit, with some interesting weather, as we disembarked on the island the rain got heavier, but the sight of several pelicans in a nest was more important that a few drops over us. The young pelican’s chick made all sorts of sounds, probably demanding some food from their parents, and right in front of us, we saw as some were fed. Then the adult pelicans began to cover the little chicks from the rain, as the little creatures hid under their parents body, a good move for the young pelicans, because it began to rain more and more, as we began to get onboard the Zodiacs to go back onboard, the adults fully covered those chicks with their huge bodies.
Another day in this beautiful paradise, feeling the cycles of life and the rains that triggers them.
