Bartolomé & James Islands

375 steps! I started at 06:30 with a dry landing at Bartolomé Island with 375 steps of healthy joy and beauty. One or two of the pioneer plants are spotted before we got to the wooden steps, which have been set up to avoid erosion by people going up and down the 117 meters of altitude.

We have made three stops ao far to show the different types of parasitic volcanic cones which are there to show the origin of the most fascinated islands of the world. Tuff (Compacted volcanic ash) cones are formed by the fast cooling of the lava by the sea water. To imagine how spatter cones are formed think about when you shake a soda bottle with your fingers on the mouth’s bottle, the same happens with lava and gas, they will go up into the air and drops of lava will be accumulated one on the top of the other. Pyroclastic cones are formed when higher amounts of gas, the lava will solidify up in the air and when falling will break in loose pieces.

Old lava flows look like the vanes of god “PELE” (The god of the volcanoes). We went to a balcony to the Moon, an area that looks just like the Moon. We were breading pure air and the contrast of the reddish brown spotted and tuff cones, the black lava of the last eruption of James Island and the turquoise and the blue sea water made a unique and beautiful scenic view.

Five thousand times I have heard fantastic expressions about this location in my 28 years of guidance and every time I feel proud of my islands, your islands. On the beach snorkelling I found three white tip sharks and an amazing diversity of fish.

Thanks Mr. Egas! Thank you very much Mr. Egas because you didn’t continue to exploit salt at James Bay, west of James island, because at 15:30 we made a wet landing, The bark of a male sea lion and the expressions of admiration by the guests were the only noises. We also snorkeled and saw a sea turtle and more fish. After we went for a walk and saw the tide pools with sea birds, marine iguanas, baby sea lions and hundreds of invertebrates, the bright sun was on the west and a beautiful rainbow was on the east. One of my youngest guests wanted to look for the gold at the end of the rainbow, others smiled and just looked. These are the things that have kept me doing my job for such a long time.