Bartolome Island

There is an island in the heart of a large archipelago. The island is young, and is populated by very few species of plants and animals. The island has dozens of little volcanoes, known to geologists as spatter cones. The volcanoes are not active any more, but the lava still looks fresh, as it hasn’t been colonized yet by many pioneer plants.

The island is 345 feet in height and no more than a square mile in area. It is one tiny dot on the map, but easy to find on any chart, as it is located one quarter west from Greenwich, and just sixteen nautical miles south of the equator.

But it is not only the geology of this island that is fascinating. It is home for a little colony of the second smallest penguin in the world, the Galápagos penguin. Green seas turtles nest on its golden crescent beaches. And the island has two lovely beaches, one on its northern shore, and one towards the windy south.

Should I say the name? The name of this magical place is…Bartolome.