Today we visited the easternmost island of the Galapagos Archipelago: San Cristobal. San Cristobal was the first island visited by Charles Darwin during his visit to the Galapagos in 1835. In the morning, we hiked to a visitor site is known as Punta Pitt. It was very sunny throughout the day, a great blue sky was our companion and we could feel the warmth of the equator. Punta Pitt offers dramatic landscapes, the deep shadows highlight the eroded ridges of the tuff cone.
Several options were offered this morning at this site, including a faster-paced or normal-paced hike to the upper plateau climbing a steep ravine of 320 feet, and a leisurely Zodiac ride. We were looking forward to seeing all the species of boobies that are found in the Galapagos Islands: blue-footed, red-footed and Nazca boobies. There were also endemic lava lizards, mockingbirds and many other sea birds, including swallow-tailed gulls, Galapagos shear waters, storm petrels, and great frigatebirds.
During the Zodiac ride, we enjoyed the company of a playful Galapagos sea lion, it was so much fun! After our hikes, we had the option to spend some time at the green olivine beach, which offered great opportunities for snorkeling as well as swimming.
The afternoon brought us to one of the most beautiful beaches of San Cristobal Island: Cerro Brujo, or “wizard hill”. This is one of the few visitor sites where one is free to wander along the entire width and length of the white sand beach, and the sand feels like powder! It was amazing, we observed blue-footed boobies and brown pelicans diving, trying to catch the last meal of the day. Our eager photographers were captured some incredible pictures! At one side of the beach, our young explorers, decided to enjoy body surfing—Galapagos offers a unique experience for everyone, no matter what age! Today was the last day of our expedition, an incredible trip full of emotions and memories, amazing experiences, and great people!
