This was the first full day of our expedition in the Galapagos Islands, and we spent it visiting a couple of small but extremely interesting islands located in the heart of the archipelago. This morning, we visited Bartolome before breakfast; rather early, but certainly the right time to climb the more than 370 wooden steps to the summit before the heat of the day sets in! Bartolome is a young and relatively bare island, therefore it is considered a ‘field guide’ because of the many volcanic features one can appreciate from the trail, like lava tubes, cindery slopes, ‘hornitos’ and the numerous spatter cones and craters that dominate the island. From the summit of Bartolome, we have the fantastic panorama of Sullivan Bay and its barren basaltic flows, the product of a relatively recent eruption dating back to 1897.
We returned back on board for a well-deserved breakfast, and after that we had a talk by our expedition leader Lynn Fowler, who gave us all the necessary information to prepare us for the following water activities. We left our ship immediately afterwards and disembarked at the beach of Bartolome. The weather couldn’t have been better, with blue skies, turquoise waters and a gorgeous sandy beach. For some, this was the ideal spot to refresh on our snorkeling skills, while others simply set off towards the base of the Pinnacle Rock, where great numbers of fish were spotted. Not far from all of this, a small group of endemic Galapagos penguins stood on some rocks to bask in the sun, while a few others were in the water obviously hunting their favorite fish species. We had to leave this paradisiacal beach, as we had to weigh anchor in order to reach our afternoon destination on time, Rabida Island, further north.
The Galapagos Islands are part of the Republic of Ecuador, so today we had a chance to taste dishes from various regions of the country, when the typical Ecuadorian buffet lunch was served by our dedicated crew. What a treat!
Later on, we dropped anchor at Rabida Island and our Zodiacs were offloaded soon after. From the ship, this island certainly looks different to Bartolome, as this one does have a vegetation cover, even if it looks quite dry. Here at Rabida some of our guests had an opportunity to explore the shoreline of a bay with calm waters by kayak—a fun way to appreciate nature at one’s own pace. We also had a couple of groups of snorkelers who jumped into these blue waters, which offer us many different fish species like the blue-chin parrot, sergeant majors, razor surgeons, and damselfish. Some even spotted marine iguanas, and even some white-tipped reef sharks.
But the afternoon was not yet over, and a little later we disembarked on the red sands of Rabida beach for a stroll amongst the sunbathing Galapagos sea lions. We walked the length of this rather unusually colored beach, bordered by some green vegetation which creates a fantastic contrast. We were accompanied along our walk by some land birds, like the Galapagos mockingbirds and the yellow warblers, as well as the lava lizards, ever busy hunting the last bugs of the day.
The day was coming to an end, and from the open beach we could enjoy a gorgeous sunset, our second one in this small group of islands, lost in this corner of the Pacific Ocean… what a wonderful feeling!
