Early today we arrived at the northeastern point of San Cristobal Island. We began our day with an invigorating hike along an old creek to the top of a tuff cone. Right as we arrived to the beach, we encountered a large group of male sea lions all over the place. First we had to walk around them and they were a bit unruly as they tried to chase each other.
As we left the beach behind for the bachelor sea lions, we started to climb and arrived to the top of the creek. From there we had a spectacular view of the volcanic coast. We walked through red carpet-like vegetation that contrasted with the surrounding lava. Near the end we encountered some juvenile red footed boobies waiting on their nests for their parents along the cliffs of Punta Pitt.
After this energizing walk, we returned to the landing beach to swim and to observe a bit more those males sea lions in their colony. Some young sea lions were playing with some of us in the water and it was a lot of fun.
As we left Punta Pitt behind we headed to León Dormido. There we snorkeled with sea turtles and sharks before returning aboard to navigate around this islet and encounter a couple of Bryde’s whales in the same area. The day ended with a very colorful sunset and nice, calm seas waited ahead as we made our way to Puerto Baquerizo on San Cristobal Island.
