Bartolome Island
We woke up early this morning in the central part of the archipelago, anchored in front of the incredibly picturesque islet of Bartolome. And Bartolome is located east of the fourth largest island in Galapagos, Santiago.
This is an area of unique colors and textures, earning the reputation of the most photographed volcanic landscape in the islands. We are among middle-aged islands, ages ranging from 1 to 1.5 million years. Santiago Island for example is at the typical stage of a middle-aged island. The massive caldera that the island once sported has collapsed and disappeared, whilst hundreds of secondary parasitic cones dot the slopes of the ancient volcanoes. Recent lava flows have surrounded old formations, like orange cinder cones and reddish tuff, oxidized through the years in contact with air. The islet of Bartolome is a much smaller volcano. The three kinds of parasitic cones that make it up have eroded through the years into the weird and wonderful shapes that we enjoyed this morning.
We counted on a cool breeze that aided us climbing to the top of this cone, 350 ft above sea level. Thanks to the hard work of the Galapagos National Park Service the climb is now much easier. The Park Service is truly to be commended for their excellent work in upkeeping the excellent trails that allow us to explore this unique environment, whilst causing the least possible damage to our surroundings.
After breakfast guest what? We were joined in the water by several almost friendly penguins. Sometimes they were too “sociable”. The proof were a few scratch marks on my back made by the curious penguins that wanted to be the stars of my underwater footage.
We woke up early this morning in the central part of the archipelago, anchored in front of the incredibly picturesque islet of Bartolome. And Bartolome is located east of the fourth largest island in Galapagos, Santiago.
This is an area of unique colors and textures, earning the reputation of the most photographed volcanic landscape in the islands. We are among middle-aged islands, ages ranging from 1 to 1.5 million years. Santiago Island for example is at the typical stage of a middle-aged island. The massive caldera that the island once sported has collapsed and disappeared, whilst hundreds of secondary parasitic cones dot the slopes of the ancient volcanoes. Recent lava flows have surrounded old formations, like orange cinder cones and reddish tuff, oxidized through the years in contact with air. The islet of Bartolome is a much smaller volcano. The three kinds of parasitic cones that make it up have eroded through the years into the weird and wonderful shapes that we enjoyed this morning.
We counted on a cool breeze that aided us climbing to the top of this cone, 350 ft above sea level. Thanks to the hard work of the Galapagos National Park Service the climb is now much easier. The Park Service is truly to be commended for their excellent work in upkeeping the excellent trails that allow us to explore this unique environment, whilst causing the least possible damage to our surroundings.
After breakfast guest what? We were joined in the water by several almost friendly penguins. Sometimes they were too “sociable”. The proof were a few scratch marks on my back made by the curious penguins that wanted to be the stars of my underwater footage.
