We navigated towards the central islands and at dawn found ourselves anchored off an extensive lava flow that dates from 1897. The view from the ship was otherworldly, miles of barren black lava and reddish cinder cones against a bright turquoise sea. After breakfast we boarded our fleet of Zodiacs and took a slow panga cruise along the lava shores. Marine iguanas were sunning; after spending time diving and feeding on marine algae in the chilly water they quickly warm up by basking on the black rocks under the tropical sun. Small secretive striated herons prowled along or stood statue-still hunting for tiny Sally Lightfoot crabs or small fish that approached too close to shore. Sea lions as usual stole the show! A huge territorial male barked and patrolled and rolled in the surf with a female and a gang of at least a dozen pups splashed and chased in what we couldn’t resist calling a “kiddie pool.”
Back on board we wiggled into our wetsuits and three Zodiacs of guests headed back out to the channel between Sombrero Chino and Santiago Islands for snorkeling. The conditions were perfect! The water was warm and clear and calm. We spent well over an hour swimming slowly along the coast of Santiago’s impressive lava shores among a zillion fish of at least 20 species. Honestly, in my 30+ years of snorkeling here I don’t recall ever seeing so many fish at this site!
Near the end of our swim/snorkel we found a feeding marine iguana and a fast moving penguin! The marine iguana grazed nonchalantly on short algae as he clung to the rocks about three feet below the surface while naturalist Paul sneakily pushed his GoPro camera in for some excellent footage. The penguin zipped among us like a black and white missile and chased panicked fish about two inches long. He was hard to see, difficult to follow, and sometimes swam right under or just beside our guests who never did catch a glimpse of him. Later however, he got out of the water and stood obligingly on a rock where he preened and dried in the sun. Then we all got a good look and many pictures were taken. We called, by radio, those who had gone with Juan Carlos to spend some time on lovely little white sand beach, and they also came over to see this charming and fearless little penguin.
I entertained our guests after lunch and siesta with a presentation about my Ph.D. research and the year and a half I spent camped on Volcan Alcedo, Isabela Island. Not entertaining but important none the less was our discussion of the damaged that goats and donkeys were doing to the Galápagos in the 1970 and ‘80s. But I was proud to inform our group that most of these large and invasive introduced mammals have since been eradicated.
In the late afternoon we headed off with our guides for a “lava hike.” At Sullivan Bay one can walk on the extensive 117-year-old pahoehoe lava fields and photograph the amazing and varied textures. It was warm out when we started the walk—after all here we are on the Equator, on a pitch black lava flow! But by late in the day the breeze cooled us slightly and another small group of penguins delighted us as we returned to the ship. Wow—what a superb and amazing day in las islas encantadas!
