On our 4th day we visited Bartolome Island and took a short hike to a spot with one of the most iconic Galapagos views in the archipelago. The pointy rock on the right is known as “The Pinnacle”. This is the view right after getting off the panga.
This Galapagos Hawk was posing right near the edge of the trail. Only found in the Galapagos, the hawk is fairly rare here, with only 150 mating pairs in existence today.
There are several resting spots on the hike up the hill. You can see what appears to be small dry river beds where the lava flowed down the side of this volcano.
This is one of the younger islands in the Galapagos, and it looks it.
This is the iconic view that you seem to see in every Galapagos travel guide. It really is almost unreal, with so many color variations!
Here is yet another Christmas Card photo (#4).
Looking down from the top you can see a small volcanic cone in the water. It almost looks like a man made swimming pool.
This huge Sally Lightfoot crab welcomed us back to the panga pickup spot.
Our guide was hoping to find dolphins, as we had seen a large pod of them from the summit, so we started cruising around the western part of the island.
After about 15 minutes of cruising around the western and southwestern side of the island, our naturalist guide Diego spotted the pod, and our panga moved into the middle of it.
We had Dolphins all around us, shooting up towards the bow of our panga from both sides. It was amazing! You know it has to be good when your naturalist guide gets excited! Here is more video from the bow of the panga.
After getting back onboard we put on our wetsuits for another snorkeling adventure along the western edge of Bartolome Island. I was able to see a White Tipped Reef Shark swim right under me. Our guides let us know that these sharks are perfectly harmless…just leave them alone and they’ll leave you alone. This was a particularly good snorkeling area, as it was the best clarity we have seen so far.
After lunch we snorkeled again….the activities just don’t let up! This time we snorkeled along Sullivan Bay, part of James Island, the island just to the west of Bartolome Island. This time we were with Bolo, and he pointed out a small Galapagos Garden Eel along the bottom. It was so tiny he had to swim down to point it out, and which point it took off like a bat out of hell. I have no idea how it moved that fast since it doesn’t appear to have any flippers or means of acceleration, but regardless, it’s quick. Hopefully Bolo got some footage so I can post it later.
After getting back on the yacht I noticed a Sea Lion had decided to relax on one of the pangas tied up off the stern. These animals do have a way of finding the most relaxing place possible and sleeping the day away, much like Gen Z!
The bar area on the Evolution is really a nice spot for the guests to relax after a full day of excursions.
The sun was gorgeous as it started slipping towards the horizon…
…finishing in yet another beautiful sunset!
Coming up, we visit Santa Cruz and Rabida Islands, with the hopes of seeing some Flamingos.
Great pics again… especially the Hawk. Looks like you’ve had good weather. How have the seas been? If you get a chance can we see more of the boat?
Case
Casey, I took some photos of the yachts interior. I will include them in a post soon. We were quite lucky with weather, but we did have at least two nights of rough seas. Kim wore her wrist bands and was ok. Fletch and I were unaffected.