Friday, May 25 – Santiago and Bartolome Islands
As you will have seen, one of the incredibly interesting things about the Galápagos Islands is how very different they are from each other. The volcanic hot spot that has created the islands remains stationary and there continue to be 5 active volcanos on Isabella Island. The oldest islands are moving eastward as the Nasca Plate on which the islands exist is moving under the major South America plate.
Santiago Island where we spent Friday is one of the newer islands (in relative terms) and the island is a great example of how the land mass changes over time. There was volcanic activity here as 1897 when 25% of the land mass was covered with the black lava called Pahoehoe lava flow. That’s a Hawaiian term for smooth, unbroken lava or literally “easy to walk on”.
We started out early and landed on Santiago Island at Sullivan Bay. It was an odd contrast between the white sand beach which we’ve seen everywhere, the black shiny lava formations and the browner hills and areas from a previous eruption left uncovered. There were some green areas that were the oldest parts and where the lava had already started to break down into earth and plants had started to grow.
The patterns in the lava which looked like ropes were interesting as were the places where multiple layers of the lava could be seen where the outer crust of the lava had hardened but the inner layers kept flowing creating splits in the lava like mini Teutonic plates.
There were remnants of gas bubbles in the shiny black lava in some places and as we walked over the lava field, Milton pointed out where trees had once stood and left holes in the lava after the tree disintegrated over time. Oddly out of place were the lava, prickly pear and candelabra cacti.
We were very glad that we’d started early in the morning since the sun was bright today and we felt like we were being fried on the black lava. We did see some lava lizards, and some finches but not a lot of other wildlife.
Fortunately next on the agenda was a deep water snorkel along Sullivan Bay so we were able to cool off while pursuing things to look at underwater in this calm bay. There were piles and piles of fish, mostly ones we’d seen before.
While we were back on the boat for lunch and siesta the ship sailed and repositioned just off shore of Bartolome Island where we did another deep water snorkel in the shadow of Pinnacle Rock which had been formed by volcanic action.
And here we were unbelievably lucky to come across a penguin in the water fishing in the area in which we were snorkelling. Oh my goodness, what fun to just float and watch it zipping back and forth chasing fish oblivious to the large creatures with the funny eyes, with tubes coming out of their heads and long black feet. It surfaced several times among us and came within a couple of feet of me both in the water and on the surface. Wow, swimming with sea lions, turtles, fish, sharks, and now penguins. I have said more than once this week that I am going to be forever spoiled for snorkelling any where else. I also saw a Chocolate Chip Star fish, and Orange Tube Coral on this snorkel as well as a plethera of fish and schools of fish. We were in the water for an hour or so, and it was a little chilly by the end, but not complaining.
This had been an active day already but after a quick rinse to get the salt water off, we were back on the pangas on our way to Bartolome Island once more, this time to climb to the summit of the island, along a walkway and up 367 stairs. Unfortunately I didn’t have altitude to blame for all the huffing and puffing up the stairs because we were obviously at sea level, but after one hike and two snorkels earlier in the day, my legs were pretty tired. We did stop along the way for Adrian to give us more information about the formation of the islands and type of rocks we were seeing. I have to say the view of the surrounding islands from the summit look out were pretty spectacular.
AND what is that? Is that a light house? Well, kind of and I’ll take it. A trip to the ocean wouldn’t complete without a light house picture.
On the way down I slipped on one of the wooden steps that had quite a lot of sand covering it and wrenched my knee and caught the back of my heel on the next step up. Sigh. Another bruise and small cut to go along with al the others. Honestly I don’t know how I got a bunch of these, but clambering over the side of the panga, up the stairs on the ship, moving in my room when the ship is at sea all contributed I’m sure.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned one of the most important elements of our experience aboard the Monserrat. Snacks! One of the women on my Ecuador/Peru land tour had been on the same tour on the Monserrat before the land tour and one of the things she told me about was the fantastic snacks they prepared and served us on the back deck of the ship in the morning and afternoon after our return from our activities. I thought at the time that it was a little weird that she would make a point of talking about the snacks in particular. Well after about 2 days I understood. First of all, by the time you’re done an hour or hour and a half hike and a 45 min to an hour snorkel, you’re darn good and hungry. And secondly, they were so good. Never the same kind twice, and only a few times prepared things like packaged cookies. There were always two offerings: empanadas with queso, plantain cups with fresh cheese, yucca sticks with dip, homemade chips and salsa and even chicken wings one day. And there was always a choice of 2 different kinds of fantastic fruit juices and iced tea. Eduardo was the server of our snacks and our food in the dining lounge and the bartender. He was a very busy guy.
I hit the sack at 9 pm and didn’t wake up til the alarm scared me to death at 6 am the next morning. I never sleep through to the alarm going off.
Lois' Adventures 