Bartolome and Santiago Islands
The sun was rising behind the mountains at Bartolome when we were ready to start our day with a climb to the summit of the volcano to be amused by the spectacular moon-like landscape, pinnacle rock and the view of the nearby islands. Right after this morning exercise, we came back to the Polaris to have a big breakfast as usual.
After 9:00 in the morning we started the second part of our visit to Bartolome Island with a walk to the sand dunes, a glass-bottom boat ride, and the very relaxing floating massage. After the walk on the sand dunes across the mangrove forest and some succulent plants, we were very lucky to have encountered about a dozen white-tipped reef sharks in very shallow water in a frenetic swim back and forth along the beach to be the first ones to mate with the females. As if we had not had enough, we were delighted by the brown pelicans flying in and out of their nests in turns to feed their very hungry chicks; this is the only pelican species in the Galápagos and they only breed depending upon conditions, when there is enough food in the sea for themselves and their little ones. Many of them will die while learning the very complicated maneuvers to dive for fish from the sky in very shallow waters.
The morning was not over yet, and the people who snorkeled swam with sharks, Galápagos penguins and sea lions. With very happy faces, everybody turned back to the Polaris to set sail to the James Bay on Santiago Island, the site where Charles Darwin spent nine days of his time during his visit to the Galápagos archipelago.
This afternoon our guests had the chance to swim or snorkel off the beach, followed by a walk along the intertidal area of Puerto Egas, to see and learn about creatures that spend their lives in and out of the water for very short periods of times during the tide changes where marine iguanas, sally light-foot crabs and other marine invertebrates graze on the very rich algae growing attached to the basaltic rocks. Guests also enjoyed a walk through the Palo Santo Forest, hearing and watching Galápagos mockingbirds, Darwin’s finches, Galápagos doves, Galápagos flycatchers and yellow warblers towards the fur seal’s grottos, to be finally returning with the last rays of the sun that was hiding behind the volcanoes of Isabela Island in the west.
The sun was rising behind the mountains at Bartolome when we were ready to start our day with a climb to the summit of the volcano to be amused by the spectacular moon-like landscape, pinnacle rock and the view of the nearby islands. Right after this morning exercise, we came back to the Polaris to have a big breakfast as usual.
After 9:00 in the morning we started the second part of our visit to Bartolome Island with a walk to the sand dunes, a glass-bottom boat ride, and the very relaxing floating massage. After the walk on the sand dunes across the mangrove forest and some succulent plants, we were very lucky to have encountered about a dozen white-tipped reef sharks in very shallow water in a frenetic swim back and forth along the beach to be the first ones to mate with the females. As if we had not had enough, we were delighted by the brown pelicans flying in and out of their nests in turns to feed their very hungry chicks; this is the only pelican species in the Galápagos and they only breed depending upon conditions, when there is enough food in the sea for themselves and their little ones. Many of them will die while learning the very complicated maneuvers to dive for fish from the sky in very shallow waters.
The morning was not over yet, and the people who snorkeled swam with sharks, Galápagos penguins and sea lions. With very happy faces, everybody turned back to the Polaris to set sail to the James Bay on Santiago Island, the site where Charles Darwin spent nine days of his time during his visit to the Galápagos archipelago.
This afternoon our guests had the chance to swim or snorkel off the beach, followed by a walk along the intertidal area of Puerto Egas, to see and learn about creatures that spend their lives in and out of the water for very short periods of times during the tide changes where marine iguanas, sally light-foot crabs and other marine invertebrates graze on the very rich algae growing attached to the basaltic rocks. Guests also enjoyed a walk through the Palo Santo Forest, hearing and watching Galápagos mockingbirds, Darwin’s finches, Galápagos doves, Galápagos flycatchers and yellow warblers towards the fur seal’s grottos, to be finally returning with the last rays of the sun that was hiding behind the volcanoes of Isabela Island in the west.
