This is a bird flying, but flying underwater. By looking at this picture one can imagine the speed it reached, leaving all the fish far behind. A penguin can move at about 20 miles per hour; however, our camera was good enough to catch the bird in action.
There were hundreds of sardines in the rich waters of Bartolome this morning. A couple of penguins were diving after them. Many of our guests shared their snorkeling experience with the two sea birds and several species of fish, and even with a white tip shark.
Bartolome has a small colony of penguins. The whole archipelago has only approximately 1200 penguins. The numbers were decimated after "El Nino" 1982-1983, and again during the last one in 1996-1997.
This is one of the smallest species in the world, and the northernmost penguin. But for sure it is also one of the cutest and the only one you can swim with in tropical waters.
