Day 8: June 27, 2007 Bartolome and Puerto Ayora

  Puerto Ayora, Ecuador
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Day 8: June 27, 2007 Bartolome and Santiago to Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz

I awoke at 6:00 surrounded by spectacular scenery. The famous Pinnacle towered above the bay. After breakfast, the first thing we did was to go around to the back side of Bartolome looking for Galápagos penguins and sharks. Finding none, we returned to the front side and were happy to see several penguins swimming near the Pinnacle. We did a wet landing on the beach and climbed to the top of a 100 m volcano, Cerro Dragon, that had a spectacular view of Santiago, as well as, Bartolome. It was clear so we could see many surrounding islands too.

Panga Party

Bartolome Isthmus

Isla Santiago Volcanoes

Isla Bartolome

White-tipped Sharks

After descending back to the beach, we crossed the narrow isthmus to the north shore where we fotografed numerous white-tipped sharks swimming just a few meters offshore. We spent about 15 minutes watching and fotografing them before returning to the other side of the isthmus. We donned our snorkeling gear and snorkeled around the pinnacle to the other side. I never did catch up with the others but Sandro stayed with me in the panga for the first half hour. After he left I swam toward the Pinnacle seeing numerous sea stars of several species. The highlight was when a penguin swam beneath me.

I stuck close to the wall of the Pinnacle which is a volcanic neck. There were abundant fish of numerous species. Then I snorkeled through the eroded tuff along the stratigraphy which was beautiful and housed numerous fish. Several people got shots of penguins on the rocks as the first panga headed back to the Spondylus but they were gone by the time I went in the second panga.

The boat sailed across the channel as we ate lunch. At 2:00 we made a dry landing on the 1890 lava flow on Santiago. We did the loop trail on the flow. It is covered with amazing pahoehoe patterns. One could make a coffee table album with fotos of them.

Isla Santiago Pahoehoe

Islas Santiago and Bartolome

Even though the pahoehoe is relatively easy to walk on , the heat from the black surface was oppressive and we were all ready to get back to the boat by the end. The highlight, for me, was seeing a solitary lava cactus thriving on one of the small cinder cones surrounded by the lava.

As soon as we got back to the boat we sailed for Puerto Ayora with moderate seas. We sailed past Daphne Mayor getting many nice fotos. Manta rays and sharks surfacing around us kept us entertained. A beautiful sunset silhouetting the Daphnes provided a fitting end to our daylight sailing.

The Daphnes

Isla Santiago Sunset

Daphne Mayor Sunset

In the dining room, the crew provided us with strong piña coladas as a farewell gesture. We gave the 8 member crew a $800 tip for their excellent services.

Crew's Farewell

I went to bed soon after dinner and quickly fell asleep. I vaguely remember dropping anchor around 11:00. Several people took a panga into town but that was far from my thoughts. The commotion of the harbor kept me awake for a little while but I was soon back asleep.