This morning was sunny with a beautiful blue sky at Punta Pitt. After breakfast we started our activities and a couple of groups, after landing on a green sand “olivine” beach, went for a hike up to a plateau located 300 feet above sea level. In order to get to this place it was necessary to climb over rocks and along a narrow difficult path formed by erosion, weathering and probably water flowing along the slope of the volcano. Once we reached the end of the trail, the place offered us an amazing panoramic view. It is surrounded by old “tuff” peaks, with different colors, such as browns, yellows and beige. In addition to this wonderful landscape, the site also has amazing wildlife. We saw red footed boobies, nazca boobies and frigate birds. Some of the boobies were nesting and the frigates were as well. After seeing all of this, we returned to the landing beach to swim and refresh ourselves.
Two other groups went on a Zodiac ride around the little islet named Juan, where there were lots of very playful sea lion pups. The pups got very close to our boat and at times they touched it and practically wanted to jump in. By the rocks we also found red footed boobies nesting, frigates, swallowed tailed gulls, a very large group of storm petrels, and a couple of great blue herons about to start their breeding cycle.
After the visit we came back to boat for lunch and we navigated toward Cerro Brujo. In the afternoon we visited this wonderful white sand beach, perhaps one of the most beautiful in the Galapagos and also an historical site, because it is very possible Darwin visited this place in 1835. We walked along the whole beach and we saw sea lions again, some shore birds, and boobies fishing by the sea.
After the walk we came back to our vessel to enjoy some cocktails and a terrific sunset.
