Today we visited the little Island of Bartolome, located southeast from Santiago Island. Here our guests enjoyed a hike to the Summit of Bartolome, which had them climbing over 399 steps. Once on top the view is spectacular—two golden beaches with green mangroves in between, and black lava flow in the background. Other guests decided to enjoy the golden sandy beach and practice some snorkeling. We had four Zodiacs going out for deep water snorkeling, where white-tipped reef sharks were spotted among the colorful fish. Glass-bottom boat rides were offered, and our guests were delighted with the dry snorkeling option.
National Geographic Endeavour II was then repositioned towards Sombrero Chino, where once again our adventurous guests went snorkeling in the protected waters. There were colorful, silvery fish everywhere, and many playful Galapagos sea lions and Galapagos penguins. Finally, our day was capped off with a coastal exploration on board our Zodiacs, with wonderful weather conditions.
5/29/2025
Read
National Geographic Gemini
Genovesa Island
Genovesa is considered one of the Galapagos crown jewels, and today it was showing off all of its splendor. Immediately after breakfast we put on our sturdy shoes and set out to explore Prince Philip’s Steps. This area is known for opportunities to observe not only large colonies of nesting Nazca and red-footed boobies, but maybe, just maybe, the short-eared owl which exhibits diurnal behavior on this island. After this walk we got ready for a dip in the Pacific Ocean and snorkeling along the inner coast of this caldera. The afternoon was equally amazing as we disembarked to explore Darwin Bay, along a short and easy trail that was packed with wildlife. Here we observed not only nesting frigatebirds, red-footed boobies, and Nazca boobies, but also a few yellow-crowned night herons. It was another incredible afternoon in the Galapagos Islands.
