San Cristobal is the easternmost island and one of the oldest ones in the Galápagos, and at its northern tip lays Punta Pitt. Its tall majestic cliffs are the remnants of some heavily eroded old tuff cones, and sparse patches of vegetation cover it here and there. Red-footed boobies, with their prehensile feet, like to nest on these trees and bushes, and we were able to spot them from a distance. Being one of our three resident booby species, the red-footed boobies prefer to forage quite far away from their colonies.
The landing beach at Punta Pitt is composed of very fine sand of a greenish tinge, owing to the abundance of minute crystals of olivine, also known as peridot. Behind the beach is a canyon, formed by hundreds of years of rains gathered in the high peaks flowing down toward the sea. We hiked up the canyon and the views over the bay and surrounding coast were stunning! Despite a persistent fine rain, typical of this month, we found our way to the end of the trail; this is a very colorful corner of this area, being covered by an endemic red plant called sesuvium or Galápagos carpetweed. It was here that we encountered some red-footed boobies by the trail, some of which were juveniles waiting for their parents to return. Back at the beach, a couple of young Galápagos sea lions decided to play with the swimmers, displaying their fantastic acrobatics in the water and an innocence that struck us. It was the magic of the Galápagos before our eyes!
The waters around Punta Pitt are rich in nutrients, and just outside our anchorage some of our guests were fortunate to see a mother humpback whale and her calf. This was the fourth species of cetaceans spotted this week. We have been so lucky!
After lunch we navigated toward our last destination, Kicker Rock. The Galápagos National Park Service keeps this wonderful rocky formation a marine site with no landing spots or trails, so this was to be our last snorkeling opportunity of the week. Our fearless snorkelers crossed a natural channel formed by waves expanding a fissure, and here we could spot many sea turtles, some spotted eagle rays and even a couple of black-tipped sharks. The top of the cliffs at Kicker Rock are a sanctuary for various species of seabirds. We were amazed by the potent call of the beautiful red-billed tropic birds. Magnificent frigatebirds flew in circles high in the sky. Blue-footed and Nazca boobies were also to be found here, as well as brown noddies and swallow-tailed gulls.
A little later, we circumnavigated Kicker Rock to enjoy the sun rays shining on its yellow rocks. This was certainly the best way to say goodbye to a fantastic expedition in the Enchanted Isles.
