Bartolome and Santiago Islands
With the first glimpse of light we were awaken by our expedition leader, Lynn, and soon after we went for an aerobic walk on the island of Bartolome. We had to climb three hundred and seventy-two steps to the summit of a parasite volcano, where we were rewarded with one of the most spectacular landscape view of the Galápagos.
All this was done before breakfast, right after which we headed towards a small golden beach on the same island for water activities. For some people, this was their first experience in this new world. For others, this was just their first chance to experience the beauty of the Galápagos marine life. Today’s snorkeling was amazing: we saw a little bit of everything, black-tipped reef sharks, white-tipped reef sharks, green sea turtles, sea lions, penguins fishing in front of our eyes, and a great number of fish with embodying all the colors and sizes that we could imagine.
In the afternoon, we took a walk along the west coast of Santiago Island. This area is full of life. Female sea lions are in the middle of their birthing season, and the sounds that their pups were making while that were trying to nurse was synonymous with a successful reproduction cycle. Marine iguanas were forming groups to regulate the temperature of their bodies and to warm up. A couple of hours earlier they had been eating algae in the intertidal zone. In the water, the temperature of their bodies had dropped and now they needed to warm up in order to be able to start their digestion process. On the Zodiac ride back to the ship we had a colorful sunset, and then we all delighted in a sumptuous ceviche appetizer on the sundeck of our ship.
With the first glimpse of light we were awaken by our expedition leader, Lynn, and soon after we went for an aerobic walk on the island of Bartolome. We had to climb three hundred and seventy-two steps to the summit of a parasite volcano, where we were rewarded with one of the most spectacular landscape view of the Galápagos.
All this was done before breakfast, right after which we headed towards a small golden beach on the same island for water activities. For some people, this was their first experience in this new world. For others, this was just their first chance to experience the beauty of the Galápagos marine life. Today’s snorkeling was amazing: we saw a little bit of everything, black-tipped reef sharks, white-tipped reef sharks, green sea turtles, sea lions, penguins fishing in front of our eyes, and a great number of fish with embodying all the colors and sizes that we could imagine.
In the afternoon, we took a walk along the west coast of Santiago Island. This area is full of life. Female sea lions are in the middle of their birthing season, and the sounds that their pups were making while that were trying to nurse was synonymous with a successful reproduction cycle. Marine iguanas were forming groups to regulate the temperature of their bodies and to warm up. A couple of hours earlier they had been eating algae in the intertidal zone. In the water, the temperature of their bodies had dropped and now they needed to warm up in order to be able to start their digestion process. On the Zodiac ride back to the ship we had a colorful sunset, and then we all delighted in a sumptuous ceviche appetizer on the sundeck of our ship.
