Bartolomé & Santiago Islands
Little by little the darkness is giving up and now it is possible to see the contours of the island of Bartolomé. It is six in the morning and the wake up call has been done; soon we can see the guests getting ready for our first full day in the Galápagos.
The National Geographic soundtrack goes around in everyone’s mind while the groups explore the island. Pioneer plants, lava lizards, Galápagos hawks and penguins are some of the species found along the way in this desert looking piece of land.
At mid-morning, after the guests were instructed about snorkelling, the naturalists sighted orcas at the horizon. We realized there was something happening when a large group of frigate birds started to fly erratically over them. The orcas were eating and we had no time to waste! We boarded the Zodiacs and headed to pay a visit to the orcas, trying to observe without interfering too much with their behaviour.
It feels like six in the evening for what we have experienced, but luckily is not even noon! After the orca’s encounter, a refreshing snorkelling session felt just right! Lots of tropical fish and even exotic encounters with sea lions and sharks definitely made our day! Shortly after noon we were ready to come back to the National Geographic Islander to continue our expedition.
During our afternoon on the island of Santiago we noticed the massive presence of shorebirds. Whimbrels, ruddy turnstones and wandering tattlers mingled along the shore line with some land birds such as yellow warblers and finches. It was very gratifying to see how different species come to be together without competing, at least not in a bad way.
After a couple of hours exploring this environment we came to realize that it was already six in the afternoon! Time flies when you are having fun, and today was a good example of that! We had to leave the island, but tomorrow we’ll be on land again and we’d have more of these enchanted archipelago!
Little by little the darkness is giving up and now it is possible to see the contours of the island of Bartolomé. It is six in the morning and the wake up call has been done; soon we can see the guests getting ready for our first full day in the Galápagos.
The National Geographic soundtrack goes around in everyone’s mind while the groups explore the island. Pioneer plants, lava lizards, Galápagos hawks and penguins are some of the species found along the way in this desert looking piece of land.
At mid-morning, after the guests were instructed about snorkelling, the naturalists sighted orcas at the horizon. We realized there was something happening when a large group of frigate birds started to fly erratically over them. The orcas were eating and we had no time to waste! We boarded the Zodiacs and headed to pay a visit to the orcas, trying to observe without interfering too much with their behaviour.
It feels like six in the evening for what we have experienced, but luckily is not even noon! After the orca’s encounter, a refreshing snorkelling session felt just right! Lots of tropical fish and even exotic encounters with sea lions and sharks definitely made our day! Shortly after noon we were ready to come back to the National Geographic Islander to continue our expedition.
During our afternoon on the island of Santiago we noticed the massive presence of shorebirds. Whimbrels, ruddy turnstones and wandering tattlers mingled along the shore line with some land birds such as yellow warblers and finches. It was very gratifying to see how different species come to be together without competing, at least not in a bad way.
After a couple of hours exploring this environment we came to realize that it was already six in the afternoon! Time flies when you are having fun, and today was a good example of that! We had to leave the island, but tomorrow we’ll be on land again and we’d have more of these enchanted archipelago!
