Chinese Hat and Santiago Island
This morning we decided to explore the bay between the two islands. The day was a bit overcast, perfect for a Zodiac ride and taking pictures. We visited a small colony of sea lions with lots of pups on the Chinese Hat side of the island. Along the Coast of Santiago Island we spotted two Galapagos penguins molting after raising their chicks.
This Bay is just a couples of feet deep with a white sandy bottom. The water was crystal blue. The geology in this area is very spectacular because you can see many different volcanic formations, such as tuff cones, cinder cones and spatter cones. On Santiago Island we even saw a fresh lava flow, probably less than two hundred years old. The colonization of pioneer species is already taking place, but in a very slow process. From our Zodiacs we took pictures of a candelabra cactus forest, which by the way are unique for Galapagos.
After a while on board the Zodiacs the sun was very shiny and we knew it was time to come back on board and get ready for snorkeling activities. The water was pretty warm and the visibility was just perfect. Conditions for this adventure could not have been better than this morning. Sharks, stingrays, sea lions, marine iguanas feeding and big school of fish were out there for our delight.
We had to continue with our navigation to a different location on Santiago Island, but before that the Captain was very generous and passed very close to one of the six Bainbridge formations (tuff cones). This cone has a central caldera with good conditions for lagoon birds, and we just wanted to observe what was inside waiting for us. What a surprise when more than twenty flamingos were feeding inside the caldera!
At four we disembarked at Sullivan Bay to explore pahoehoe and aa lava flows all over the place. This activity gave a feeling to our guests of being the first ones to disembark and explore this island. The process of colonization of oceanic islands is very hard to accomplish, but there we were witnessing how this colonization event is taking place little by little.
After seeing this process we understand better how lucky the flora and fauna of Galapagos was. All the endemic species of Galapagos arrived by pure chance.
