Bartolomé & Santiago Islands
Early this morning, we woke up surrounded by the magnificent view of the pinnacle rock on Bartolomé Island. We went ashore and started to climb 372 steps to the summit of Bartolomé Island. Once at the top, we looked around and were just marveled by the beauty around us. Almost every book about the archipelago has a picture of the gorgeous landscapes on and around this island. It is inspiring and breathtaking to see so many amazing shapes in the lava flows, the bright red and orange color of its rocks. One cannot avoid felling astonished to see lava lizards living here with little food and almost no water. They have just enough to survive here and they do it right.
We came went back to the National Geographic Islander for breakfast. Once we replenished our energy, we once again went ashore. We disembarked on a small, beautiful golden colored beach. From there we took a short walk up a sand dune. After a few minutes we arrived at the southern beach. There, we saw a lonely whitetip reef shark, a couple of Galápagos hawks, some ghost crabs, and a green sea turtle sleeping on the shore. This is one of the most important nesting areas for sea turtles; this morning we found some nests and even some mating attempts. We also went snorkeling with sharks, penguins, sea lions and several species of fish.
In the afternoon, after a smooth navigation, we arrived at Santiago Island. We had a wet landing on the black sand beach of Puerto Egas. Some of our guests went snorkeling, others went exploring. During an afternoon walk we encountered Galápagos marine iguanas fighting over territories, a newborn Galápagos sea lion, several shorebirds and some Galápagos fur seals that were observed at the grottos along the coast. Back on the National Geographic Islander, Ernesto shared with us the underwater video he took this morning and gave us an excellent introduction to the marine life of this amazing paradise.
Early this morning, we woke up surrounded by the magnificent view of the pinnacle rock on Bartolomé Island. We went ashore and started to climb 372 steps to the summit of Bartolomé Island. Once at the top, we looked around and were just marveled by the beauty around us. Almost every book about the archipelago has a picture of the gorgeous landscapes on and around this island. It is inspiring and breathtaking to see so many amazing shapes in the lava flows, the bright red and orange color of its rocks. One cannot avoid felling astonished to see lava lizards living here with little food and almost no water. They have just enough to survive here and they do it right.
We came went back to the National Geographic Islander for breakfast. Once we replenished our energy, we once again went ashore. We disembarked on a small, beautiful golden colored beach. From there we took a short walk up a sand dune. After a few minutes we arrived at the southern beach. There, we saw a lonely whitetip reef shark, a couple of Galápagos hawks, some ghost crabs, and a green sea turtle sleeping on the shore. This is one of the most important nesting areas for sea turtles; this morning we found some nests and even some mating attempts. We also went snorkeling with sharks, penguins, sea lions and several species of fish.
In the afternoon, after a smooth navigation, we arrived at Santiago Island. We had a wet landing on the black sand beach of Puerto Egas. Some of our guests went snorkeling, others went exploring. During an afternoon walk we encountered Galápagos marine iguanas fighting over territories, a newborn Galápagos sea lion, several shorebirds and some Galápagos fur seals that were observed at the grottos along the coast. Back on the National Geographic Islander, Ernesto shared with us the underwater video he took this morning and gave us an excellent introduction to the marine life of this amazing paradise.
