Bartolome Islet
Sunrise this morning, on the last day of an unforgettable cruise through the Enchanted Islands, saw us anchored just off the superbly-picturesque Bartolome Islet. Rust coloured volcanic cones streaked by more recent flows of tortuous lava surrounded us, as we boarded our Zodiac fleet, bound for the shoreline.
We landed at the base of a volcanic cone and hiked to the very top, where the famous views of the pinnacle rock towering above two golden beaches spread before us.
After breakfast, we left the ship once more to land at the base of the rock, on one of the beautiful half-moon beaches, where several activities awaited us. Tidal conditions all day were optimal, as the low water levels exposed one of the most fascinating marine environments, the intertidal zone. Caught between the highest high tide levels and lowest low tide levels, this zone imposes severe environmental stresses on the organisms that inhabit it: desiccation and wave action higher up, competition and predation below. As a result of this spectrum, one can observe strict zonation patterns in the distribution of the sessile organisms – barnacles and sea anemones have protection against desiccation, so are found higher up on the shorelines, as one moves down the shore one finds a plethora of wonderful marine organisms: sea stars and urchins; gorgonians (fan corals) and cup corals; encrusting sponges and clumps of tube worms; green, red and pink algae and many, many more. Other important Galápagos intertidal organisms are mobile and actually inhabit the upper shores, migrating up and down with the fluctuating water levels. The most exclusively Galápaguean of the latter are the ubiquitous marine iguanas: at low tide, the iguanas descend the shores to the water en masse, and dive down to graze the algal mats covering the intertidal zone. They prefer to wait for the low tide, as the young and smaller females do not need to even enter the water at this stage, and find the nourishment they need from the exposed shore; larger males on the other hand dive down to find thicker mats often at depths of several feet. This just happened to be the time of day we landed on Bartolome’s beach, and our Photo Expedition Leader, Ralph Hopkins, was delighted to see these strange reptiles at work along the shorelines – a great photographic opportunity!
Another prominent exploiter of the Galápagos intertidal zone is the jewel-like Sally Lightfoot crab. Their scarlet bodies litter the black shoreline, delightful to behold. At low tide, it is particularly exciting to see them at work: scavenging on whatever the receding water line leaves behind – their spectacular colours glistening in the sunshine and wetness as our cameras immortalised them.
Sunrise this morning, on the last day of an unforgettable cruise through the Enchanted Islands, saw us anchored just off the superbly-picturesque Bartolome Islet. Rust coloured volcanic cones streaked by more recent flows of tortuous lava surrounded us, as we boarded our Zodiac fleet, bound for the shoreline.
We landed at the base of a volcanic cone and hiked to the very top, where the famous views of the pinnacle rock towering above two golden beaches spread before us.
After breakfast, we left the ship once more to land at the base of the rock, on one of the beautiful half-moon beaches, where several activities awaited us. Tidal conditions all day were optimal, as the low water levels exposed one of the most fascinating marine environments, the intertidal zone. Caught between the highest high tide levels and lowest low tide levels, this zone imposes severe environmental stresses on the organisms that inhabit it: desiccation and wave action higher up, competition and predation below. As a result of this spectrum, one can observe strict zonation patterns in the distribution of the sessile organisms – barnacles and sea anemones have protection against desiccation, so are found higher up on the shorelines, as one moves down the shore one finds a plethora of wonderful marine organisms: sea stars and urchins; gorgonians (fan corals) and cup corals; encrusting sponges and clumps of tube worms; green, red and pink algae and many, many more. Other important Galápagos intertidal organisms are mobile and actually inhabit the upper shores, migrating up and down with the fluctuating water levels. The most exclusively Galápaguean of the latter are the ubiquitous marine iguanas: at low tide, the iguanas descend the shores to the water en masse, and dive down to graze the algal mats covering the intertidal zone. They prefer to wait for the low tide, as the young and smaller females do not need to even enter the water at this stage, and find the nourishment they need from the exposed shore; larger males on the other hand dive down to find thicker mats often at depths of several feet. This just happened to be the time of day we landed on Bartolome’s beach, and our Photo Expedition Leader, Ralph Hopkins, was delighted to see these strange reptiles at work along the shorelines – a great photographic opportunity!
Another prominent exploiter of the Galápagos intertidal zone is the jewel-like Sally Lightfoot crab. Their scarlet bodies litter the black shoreline, delightful to behold. At low tide, it is particularly exciting to see them at work: scavenging on whatever the receding water line leaves behind – their spectacular colours glistening in the sunshine and wetness as our cameras immortalised them.
