Category: Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, January 2024

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.

On Day 3 we made our way back to Isabela Island, directly across from Fernandina Island.  We had an optional early morning excursion to “Urbina Bay” to see Galapagos Tortoises that nearly everybody went on.  After a 0600 wake up call we boarded the pangas and were greeted by this gorgeous partial rainbow.

Upon disembarking we walked over the sand berm and came across more Galapagos Sea Turtle nesting grounds.

Almost immediately after leaving the beach we ran across several Galapagos Tortoises.  These are land based as opposed to the Sea Turtles.

This one was munching away on the grass.

There are a number of gorgeous flowers on the islands, including this Yellow Cordia (Gabby, a naturalist onboard just told me the name…thanks Gabby!)

A little further along the trail, our naturalist guide Bolo pointed out this Galapagos Land Iguana, which is just as ugly as the Marine Iguana.

We ran across another tortoise hiding in the brush, eyeing me with a hint of suspicion.

We walked further up the trail, and then backtracked to head towards the beach, and I’m pretty sure this was the tortoise in the prior photo, marching up the trail towards us.  I think he really did suspect me of something!

That’s Gabby in front of her group behind the tortoise.

We were able to get a nice Christmas Card (#2 if you are counting) shot with this guy, or was it a girl?  I’ll have to ask naturalist Bolo, the “Tortoise Whisperer”.

As we were nearing the beach to head back, this tortoise came walking up the path towards us.  They were surprisingly active, but maybe that’s because it was so early in the day and not very hot yet.

Galapagos Tortoise Strolling up the Path

Urbina Bay is so beautiful at this time of day!

Our yacht showed a short documentary about Charles Darwin as we cruised north to our next spot, Tagus Cove.  Upon arrival at Tagus Cove, we had our second snorkeling adventure, where we saw a lot more fish and a Galapagos Penguin underwater.  I got tired out just trying to follow him!

After lunch, we boarded ocean kayaks and cruised around the cove.  The next few photos are some of our yacht mates on the kayaks.  First up are Gwen and Ron from Toronto.

Then Margo and Jim from Ohio.

Margo and Jim’s daughters, Jess and Morgan, got hauled around the ship by the panga.  Apparently this is against the rules, so hopefully the driver didn’t get in too much trouble.  It looked like fun regardless!

This is Dave and Ann from Chicago.

We were part of the second wave of kayaks, and I don’t have shot of us in the kayak, but I do have a shot of a Galapagos Penguin (notice how every animal name here starts with Galapagos?)that I took from the kayak.

Our last excursion of the day was in the same Tagus Cove, a hike up into a volcanic area with an excellent view.  This is a view from just above our landing spot.

The hike started out with a bunch of steps up to gain elevation.

There were several little rest spots along the way.  The lake to the right is actually salt water that filters from the ocean into a volcanic cone.

This was an excellent spot to show off the lake and the adjoining Tagus Cove.

A good shot of Fletcher at the top of the hike, looking like he’s enjoying the experience.

Christmas card photo (#3) from the summit of the hike.  The photo is looking north along Isabela Island.

This is the view of Darwin Volcano from our summit.

Finally, a group photo of our hiking group, with Gabby, naturalist extraordinaire, on the far left.  All in all it was a great day!

Next up, we head to Bartolome Island for an epic view, more snorkeling, a shit ton of dolphins and a visit to James Island.  Yeah, I’m only three days behind!