Another World - The Galapagos Islands Part 2

After two weeks on the islands, we felt like we had seen an incredible amount. We had traveled to Isabela Island and explored a lot of Santa Cruz. We have paced our time here to make sure we enough time to work with Galapagos ICE and the community while still being able to see the islands. The next island on our list after Isabela was Floreana, but after a mediocre review from the other volunteers and advice to do Bartolome Island instead, we changed our schedule. The second weekend of our stay here, we decided to do a tour of San Cristobal Island followed by Bartolome later that next week.

San Cristobal is known for it's large colony of sea lions who congregate around the marina and shore of the capital of the Galapagos, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. We arrived after quite a rough ferry ride from Santa Cruz and started off on the day tour to Kicker Rock and several beaches on the north side of the island. The snorkeling along the beaches was decent, but the stop at a nearly deserted beach was better. The landscape was great and we got some pictures that could have looked fake. Unfortunately, our camera had somewhat of a brain fart and these pictures for the first half of the day weren't saved. We didn't know this until it was too late and we were already back in Puerto Ayora.

Kicker Rock off the coast of San Cristobal Island.

After the beach and a small repair on one of the boat motors, we made it to Kicker Rock or Leon Dormido as known by the locals. This is a rock formation that juts out of the ocean several thousand feet off the coast. We were able to snorkel through a channel between two of the towers and saw a shark or two and several sea turtles. It was a bit unnerving for both of us since this was the first time we had been snorkeling and not been able to see the bottom. This, along with the 6-10 ft rise in water near the rock formation made it a rather difficult area to snorkel in, but it definitely helped prepare us for our first scuba dive in a week or two.

The pier on San Cristobal where is isn't hard to see sea lions and rays.

We made it back to land and explored the town with sea lions the rest of the day. The next morning, we set out for Frigatebird Hill, Cerro Tijeretas, for a bit of snorkeling. It was too rough so we ended up going to La Loberia on the other side of the island a bit early. This was more a rocky beach and we had had enough snorkeling for a weekend so we just relaxed by the beach. On the way there, I asked Erin how long she thought I could go without a shirt on and no sunblock without getting burned. I have always worn a small Underarmor shirt when swimming on this trip so I didn't have to wear sunblock. I hate the stuff. She said about 10 minutes so I told her I would go 15. When we got to La Loberia and relaxed, I started the experiment. Ten minutes on my back and stomach each. I timed it. After getting back to Santa Cruz with a better ferry ride than last time, we relaxed in our room. My chest started itching and that's when I saw I had a pretty good burn. Ten minutes on the Equator is apparently all it takes...

The channel through Kicker Rock where we managed to see some sharks and sea turtles while snorkeling.

The bay below Frigatebird Hill. It was too rough and cloudy for snorkeling which is one of the only times the conditions weren't perfect.

The day tour to Bartolome later in the week was a long day. It took 3 hours to get to the island, but it wasn't bad because the boat we were on was pretty awesome. It had an entire inside cabin with a full kitchen where the entire group had breakfast and lunch. On the way to the island, we saw sea lions, plenty of birds, and rays that would jump out of the water almost like whales or dolphins. We also managed to see a glimpse of a whale directly beside our boat. Bartolome is a very small island near Santiago Island. It is quite barren but it has spectacular views over the nearby bay and Pinnacle Rock. We also saw a 120 year old eruption that nearly made it to Bartolome through the water from Santiago.

Erin living up the breeze on the boat on the way to Bartolome Island.

This boat was the most advanced and largest we had taken yet.

We saw this whale beside the boat on the way to Bartolome.

After the hike to the top of the island, we went snorkeling in a couple different areas. We managed to get within a couple feet of a Galapagos Penguin on the rocks and saw tons and tons of starfish. Each one seemed to be different. It also never seemed hard to see another fish we hadn't seen yet, even after a dozen or so times of snorkeling. After a quick stop on a beach to relax, we headed back to Santa Cruz. We were back in time for dinner.

This fish had some awesome color and serious set of chompers.

Two of the hundreds of starfish we saw in about 30 minutes of snorkeling near Bartolome.

A Galapagos penguin hanging out on the rocks.

We didn't actually take this picture, although ours looks almost exactly the same. I just swiped it from somewhere online. Pinnacle Rock is to the right.

Unfortunately, in this week or so after we went to San Cristobal and Bartolome, two (TWO!) of our memory cards crapped out in one day. I have been a little OCD when it comes to backing up our pictures on this trip, but even that didn't protect everything. Luckily (I guess....), we only lost some of the pictures of each of these islands and not much more. It would not be so bad, but we know some of those pictures were AWESOME. We only have about 2 weeks before we are home so we are hoping we can avoid any more loss of pictures.

San Cristobal and Bartolome were great. We enjoyed San Cristobal, but Bartolome was better. Don't get me wrong, San Cristobal was still insane, but some of the other islands are just out of this world. If we ever come back, I would definitely still visit it again. Bartolome was an awesome little island with great snorkeling and views, and the penguins are amazing. Another plus was that the boat ride there was very calm and the boat was first class. If we ever come back to the Galapagos, we have decided we can do a cruise and have a totally different experience. Since some of the islands are only visited by cruise, it might be worth it to come back and see even more islands and how they have changed.

(Written April 11th)