Bartholomew Island and Chinese Hat
We started our day with a pre-breakfast outing to the summit of Bartholomew Island, where we explored all the small volcanoes along an interesting moonscape landscape during the hike. Volcanoes, solidified lava flows, endemic cacti in lava, and one of the most beautiful sceneries once on the summit were the highlights of the morning hike.
The underwater world around the famous Pinnacle Rock is full of colorful life, so we decided to explore the underwater world of Bartholomew. The temperature of the water had decreased at this time of the year but life was plenty as cooler waters have more productivity. Galapagos sea lions, Galapagos penguins and sharks were spotted as well as a wide variety of tropical fish. The golden sand beach on the north side of Bartholomew had some amazing shiny colors, due to the amount of olivine in it (semi-precious stone).
During the morning some of us even were delighted by an exciting visit a sea lion did to the floating spa. While someone was getting a massage, a sea lion jumped on the spa boat to explore the area and also take some Lindblad relaxing treatments. But that one was not the only curious sea lion! After we finished hiking to the summit of Bartholomew and were heading back to the ship for breakfast, another sea lion jumped into our Zodiac to explore.
During the afternoon’s expedition, the National Geographic Endeavour navigated to the central part of the archipelago to anchor close to Chinese Hat. This visitors’ site has wonderful geological features and it seems like life has just begun there, struggling for establishment. Some Galapagos penguins were seen on the young lava flows that meet the oceans on the coast of Santiago Island. Santiago and Chinese Hat are just divided by a narrow channel of water. We had the chance to snorkel along the coast of Santiago and explore the rich cold waters of this visitor site. Some of us preferred to go to the beach and relax while some others rode a Zodiac to photograph some of the penguins sitting on the young lava flows at the coastline of Santiago
