Galápagos 2013: Vacation, Evolved - Chino Hat, Bartolomé Island
After we left Puerto Ayora the Letty headed north toward Santiago Island. When we woke up on the morning of Friday, December 20, we were just to the southeast of Santiago. However, we never actually set foot on Santiago. Instead, we spent the day snorkeling and exploring several small islands just off Santiago.
The first of these islands, Sombrero Chino (literally, China Hat), is a small volcanic island that does bear a remarkable resemblance to the conical Asian hat seen in many Asian movies. The morning started with some snorkeling in the narrow waterway between Santiago and Sombrero Chino. The water was very shallow and was well protected from the wind and neighboring currents. Our non-snorkelers camped out on a small beach on Sombrero Chino while the rest of us observed sharks, Galápagos penguins, the inevitable sea lions, a sea turtle, and many kinds of fish, most notably a pufferfish. The coast of Santiago at this point was all covered by a relatively recent lava flow, less than one hundred years old. At that point the only plants that can live on the lava is the lava cactus, which was available in quantity.
Once we left the water the Letty headed north along the coast of Santiago. We stopped by a small nameless volcanic islet. The top of this volcano had long since collapsed into a crater, and that crater had a small brackish lake inside it.The outer edge of the volcanic crater was very thin, so basically there was the ocean, a thin layer of rock cliff, and then a lake. There was nowhere to step ashore here, but the Letty came very close to the rocks, which was possible because the water was very deep right up to the cliff face. We also saw a lot of seabirds hunting fish in this area, mostly boobies.
The northernmost point we reached on our entire trip was Bartolomé Island. This is a small volcanic islet which, like Sombrero Chino, is within swimming distance of Santiago. The first order of business was more snorkeling. Again, the non-snorkelers hit up a very nice beach while the rest of us dropped into the water and circled back along the shore to the beach. We didn't see many fish here, but there were some really impressive rocks as we swam along the shore. One of those was Pinnacle Rock, which is a very famous local landmark featured in many photos.
After we cleaned up, it was time for a hike to the Pinnacle Rock Overlook. This is a small area at the very top of Bartolomé Island. To facilitate the hike and to protect the land from erosion, there is a a wooden stairway all the way to the top of the island. It has 374 steps, which is nearly 37 stories. As you might imagine, the hike takes a significant amount of time. Fortunately there is some lovely volcanic rock to look at on the way up, as well as plenty of cacti and lava lizards. We watched some boobies attacking fish in shallow water. This is rather impressive because they dive essentially straight down at such high speed that you'd assume they'd break something hitting the water. There were also a few sea lions camped out on the stone landing. Pro tip: don't step in sea lion poop - it has all the charm of dog poop AND it smells like fish. Uh, not that I'd know.
Anyway, from the top of the Bartolomé you can a really fantastic view of that encompasses several beaches, Pinnacle Rock and Santiago off in the distance. This is apparently the most famous landscape in the islands; naturally I had never even seen a picture of it previously, or at least not to my recollection. Combined with the start of sunset it was lovely way to end the day. It helped that going down the stairs was easier than going up too.
Pictures from today are here.
The first of these islands, Sombrero Chino (literally, China Hat), is a small volcanic island that does bear a remarkable resemblance to the conical Asian hat seen in many Asian movies. The morning started with some snorkeling in the narrow waterway between Santiago and Sombrero Chino. The water was very shallow and was well protected from the wind and neighboring currents. Our non-snorkelers camped out on a small beach on Sombrero Chino while the rest of us observed sharks, Galápagos penguins, the inevitable sea lions, a sea turtle, and many kinds of fish, most notably a pufferfish. The coast of Santiago at this point was all covered by a relatively recent lava flow, less than one hundred years old. At that point the only plants that can live on the lava is the lava cactus, which was available in quantity.
Once we left the water the Letty headed north along the coast of Santiago. We stopped by a small nameless volcanic islet. The top of this volcano had long since collapsed into a crater, and that crater had a small brackish lake inside it.The outer edge of the volcanic crater was very thin, so basically there was the ocean, a thin layer of rock cliff, and then a lake. There was nowhere to step ashore here, but the Letty came very close to the rocks, which was possible because the water was very deep right up to the cliff face. We also saw a lot of seabirds hunting fish in this area, mostly boobies.
The northernmost point we reached on our entire trip was Bartolomé Island. This is a small volcanic islet which, like Sombrero Chino, is within swimming distance of Santiago. The first order of business was more snorkeling. Again, the non-snorkelers hit up a very nice beach while the rest of us dropped into the water and circled back along the shore to the beach. We didn't see many fish here, but there were some really impressive rocks as we swam along the shore. One of those was Pinnacle Rock, which is a very famous local landmark featured in many photos.
After we cleaned up, it was time for a hike to the Pinnacle Rock Overlook. This is a small area at the very top of Bartolomé Island. To facilitate the hike and to protect the land from erosion, there is a a wooden stairway all the way to the top of the island. It has 374 steps, which is nearly 37 stories. As you might imagine, the hike takes a significant amount of time. Fortunately there is some lovely volcanic rock to look at on the way up, as well as plenty of cacti and lava lizards. We watched some boobies attacking fish in shallow water. This is rather impressive because they dive essentially straight down at such high speed that you'd assume they'd break something hitting the water. There were also a few sea lions camped out on the stone landing. Pro tip: don't step in sea lion poop - it has all the charm of dog poop AND it smells like fish. Uh, not that I'd know.
Anyway, from the top of the Bartolomé you can a really fantastic view of that encompasses several beaches, Pinnacle Rock and Santiago off in the distance. This is apparently the most famous landscape in the islands; naturally I had never even seen a picture of it previously, or at least not to my recollection. Combined with the start of sunset it was lovely way to end the day. It helped that going down the stairs was easier than going up too.
Pictures from today are here.