Bartolome and Santiago Islands
This morning we had an optional early call at 6:00am to start getting ready for the day’s premier outing and the first hike in a National Park site. We had a good group of early morning troopers who happily climbed up the wooden stairway to the summit of Bartolome Island. Three hundred and seventy three steps were placed by the Galápagos National Park Service to take visitors to the most spectacular view of the archipelago and to avoid the erosion of the area. For many years visitors would hike up and down this volcano causing a lot of damage to the trail. Now, the wooden stair ways helps guests to have an easier way up, and also help the trail by avoiding complete erosion.
After, everybody came back on board to have a wonderful buffet breakfast and start getting ready for the second morning outing. Lynn, our Expedition Leader, briefed us all in the art of snorkeling. Our team of naturalists on board gave out all the snorkeling gear that guests could need to experience the best snorkeling in their lives. The beach in Bartolome is also one of the best snorkeling sites we have around and very good for beginners. We had every single guest in the group going in the water at least for a few minutes, nobody wanted to miss this snorkeling opportunity; we saw a lot of colorful tropical fish, a sea turtle and a white tipped reef shark.
After lunch we had a special time for our youngest guests to work on their journals. Lindblad provided the children with special diaries designed for them, and one of the naturalists helped them out. Kids worked at the library until 2:30pm when Lynn’s presentation started. Everyone who was interested enjoyed an introduction to the geology and the ocean currents movements in the Galápagos.
At three thirty in the afternoon we disembarked for the first afternoon’s outing with the guests that wanted to continue snorkeling. The name of the place we visited in the afternoon is Puerto Egas on Santiago Island. Hikers came out a little later to join the snorkelers on a wonderful and exclusive walk on the shores of Puerto Egas where we all marvelled in the wildlife of the intertidal zone: big marine iguanas, lava lizards, oyster catchers, sea lions, fur seals, pelicans, frigate birds and many others were the highlight . Lots of wildlife was observed during this visit.
After this beautiful and very active day, we had our briefings and conferences to get ready for tomorrow… And this is just the beginning of the week!
This morning we had an optional early call at 6:00am to start getting ready for the day’s premier outing and the first hike in a National Park site. We had a good group of early morning troopers who happily climbed up the wooden stairway to the summit of Bartolome Island. Three hundred and seventy three steps were placed by the Galápagos National Park Service to take visitors to the most spectacular view of the archipelago and to avoid the erosion of the area. For many years visitors would hike up and down this volcano causing a lot of damage to the trail. Now, the wooden stair ways helps guests to have an easier way up, and also help the trail by avoiding complete erosion.
After, everybody came back on board to have a wonderful buffet breakfast and start getting ready for the second morning outing. Lynn, our Expedition Leader, briefed us all in the art of snorkeling. Our team of naturalists on board gave out all the snorkeling gear that guests could need to experience the best snorkeling in their lives. The beach in Bartolome is also one of the best snorkeling sites we have around and very good for beginners. We had every single guest in the group going in the water at least for a few minutes, nobody wanted to miss this snorkeling opportunity; we saw a lot of colorful tropical fish, a sea turtle and a white tipped reef shark.
After lunch we had a special time for our youngest guests to work on their journals. Lindblad provided the children with special diaries designed for them, and one of the naturalists helped them out. Kids worked at the library until 2:30pm when Lynn’s presentation started. Everyone who was interested enjoyed an introduction to the geology and the ocean currents movements in the Galápagos.
At three thirty in the afternoon we disembarked for the first afternoon’s outing with the guests that wanted to continue snorkeling. The name of the place we visited in the afternoon is Puerto Egas on Santiago Island. Hikers came out a little later to join the snorkelers on a wonderful and exclusive walk on the shores of Puerto Egas where we all marvelled in the wildlife of the intertidal zone: big marine iguanas, lava lizards, oyster catchers, sea lions, fur seals, pelicans, frigate birds and many others were the highlight . Lots of wildlife was observed during this visit.
After this beautiful and very active day, we had our briefings and conferences to get ready for tomorrow… And this is just the beginning of the week!
