We arrived at the northeastern tip of San Cristobal Island, the first piece of land sighted by the crew of the HMS Beagle when they visited the Galapagos archipelago in 1835. After centuries of sea and wind erosion, the area offers incredible scenes of steep walls and golden colors.
We hiked up a small canyon produced by rain water to reach a plateau where we could admire the wonderful landscape. Punta Pitt is a major breeding site for red-footed boobies in the Galapagos. They seem to love the fishing here. We spotted many of them flying over the colony, sometimes chased by frigatebirds. Others guarded their fluffy chicks in nests perched on bushes and trees. After our walk, we relaxed on the shore, enjoying the sea lions.
After lunch, we continued our navigation further south to Kicker Rock, the remnants of a massive tuff rock. Wave action has eroded much of it, leaving vertical walls and a flat top where many sea birds breed and nest – mainly Nazca boobies and frigatebirds.
In these deep waters, we went snorkeling and saw marine creatures, like Pacific green sea turtles, spotted eagle rays, and Galapagos sharks. Toward the end of a great afternoon, a nice group of dolphins accompanied us back to the ship!
With our captain’s final words onboard, it was a perfect moment to bid goodbye to the islands and raise our glasses in a toast to a safe return home.
