Thursday - Santiago and Bartolome

Santiago - South James Bay
This morning we woke up to the Garua mist, which by the time we finished breakfast had turned into a fast drizzle of rain. We put on our rain gear and hopped into the pangas for a wet landing on the black sandy beach of Puerta Egas on Santiago Island (Also known as South James Bay). After landing on the wet sand, we walked up a slight hill that took us off the beach. The trail followed the black lava coastline, filled with algae covered grottos and tidal pools.

We had the option to walk at the coastline, over the wet slippery lava, or to stay a little further in the shore, where the lava was flatter and while wet, was not algae covered. I picked the latter. The two trails often overlapped at the flat lava areas, so it wasn't as though I was on my own. In fact, I felt like I had the best of both worlds. I was closer to the grassy areas further inland, so I saw lots of finches, yellow warblers, and Galapagos doves. Plus, I could wander onto the lava (just not all the way to the very edge) to see the lava herons, oyster catchers, and Galapagos fur seals. Within the little lava outcroppings were small blowholes (nothing as grand as on Espanola Island). There was one area that Mauricio called "Darwin's Toilet". The water would fill a rather large hole in the lava, then get sucked out again, making a flushing noise.

As we were leaving the shoreline and walking further inland, the mist started to lift and we could see the rest of the island better. This part of the island was very arid, with lots of palo verde trees, acacia, candelabra cactus, and lava lizards. We flipped over a few rocks and found lots of Galapagos scorpions.

After a nice walk back, the mist started rolling in again. That was ok, because our snorkel gear was waiting for us on the beach. All of the crew came over to the island to play soccer, and brought our gear with them. It didn't matter if it rained while we were in the water.

Despite the rain and waves, the visibility in the water was pretty good for snorkeling. Because it was overcast outside, there wasn't glare on the screen of my underwater camera, and I could actually see what I was trying to photograph. I think I got some of my best snorkel pictures this morning. I was engrossed with watching fish and a large green sea turtle for a while and kind of lost perspective of what was around me.


Suddenly I heard a loud barking in my ear. A male sea lion's mouth was less than a foot from my head, and he didn't seem like he was in a good mood. I backed away from him, freaked out, and headed back to shore.



I used the rest of our snorkel time to explore the beach from dry land!



Bartolome
After snorkeling, we headed back to the yacht for hot soup and lunch. We were told not to unpack our snorkel gear because we would be snorkeling off Pinnacle Rock after lunch. This would be the last snorkel of the trip.

But first, we had a dry landing on Bartolome. The surface of Bartolome is covered with a delicate crust of volcanic ash and very small, low ground cover plants called tequilia. In order to minimize erosion and damage to the island, a wooden boardwalk was built that creates a path most of the way to one of the summits on the island. This boardwalk consists of approx. 350 steps. The last 50 or so steps have a railing that is really really low (about mid-thigh height), which makes it very difficult to use the railing. After walking up to the top of Bartolome, you are rewarded with this spectacular view!

After going back down all the steps, it was back to the boat to change into snorkel gear. We then headed to snorkel on the back side of Pinnacle Rock (the large pointy rock formation on the right side of the picture). One of the bigger (100 passenger) cruise lines was there are the same time, so you were more likely to see another snorkeler than anything else. There were a few penguins in the water, and some sea lions, but the visibility was not all that good. This probably wasn't the best snorkel to end with!

I caught a chill, and it was back onto the boat for some hot tea. We had a great goodbye dinner, and were given instructions for the next morning. Instead of heading out after breakfast, our excursion would be at 6 am! Almost everyone called it an early night to pack and get some sleep.