As we near the end of our expedition in the Galapagos Islands, the National Geographic Islander has repositioned overnight to the eastern end of the archipelago after our day on the central island of Santa Cruz.
Today we would spend our last day in this magical place exploring San Cristobal Island. One of the oldest islands of this volcanic archipelago, San Cristobal boasts a relatively sheltered northern side as the island is longest in its south-eastern to north-western axis.
We started our day with a coastal exploration of Punta Pitt. A relatively old tuff cone that has been sculpted by thousands of years of the eroding forces of the environment. On the sheltered northern side of the point, a relatively shallow bay extends to the east and at the foot of the tuff cone we landed on a calm olivine sand beach where a small group of Galapagos sea lions basked in the sun just out of reach of the gentle swell.
Some of our guests took part in a hike up and across a ridge towards an area where we would have a chance to see blue footed boobies and red footed boobies nesting. We climbed a steep ravine that had been carved out of the compacted volcanic ash by millennia of rain water and we caught our first glimpse of a species of mockingbird and lava lizard, both of which are only found on this particular island.
After a refreshing swim surrounded by the local sea lion pups at the beach, we returned onboard. During lunch time we raised the anchor once again and started sailing southward toward yet another tuff cone, in an area known as Cerro Brujo.
Late in the afternoon we landed right next to the ash cone and after a short barefoot walk along the sandy shore and around a few lava outcrops, we arrived at what has been described as one of the most beautiful beaches in the Galapagos Islands. Here we had one last chance to share the beach with the charismatic sea lions as we walked down the extensive coralline white sand bay surrounded by its turquoise waters.
As I wrote these last lines, our guests congregated in the lounge of our floating home ahead of a farewell cocktail and the presentation of a slideshow that has been put together by our Photography Instructor, Jonathan, with pictures that we all contributed. I’m sure it made more than one of us wish we could start our Galapagos expedition all over again!
