Bartolome & Sullivan Bay

A very early start - 5:50! But we had to take a bus to the Itabaca Channel to catch our boat to the island. En route we cruised along the coast of Daphne Major, an islet inhabited by large numbers of marine birds. We finally saw the red-billed tropic bird! Also scores of: sooty terns, Nazca & blue-footed boobies, pelicans, storm petrels, swallowtail gulls, frigate birds, and Galapagos petrels.

Bartolome is an islet next to Santiago. It is littered with volcanic craters. Some are at sea level and mostly submerged while others are scattered across the dry surface. Very little grows on Bartolome. This is because it sits in the rain shadow of Santiago. We saw lava cacti which should give some indication of how arid the climate is here. There is a boardwalk from the shore all the way to the summit 114 meters above. With no plants to stabilize the soil, the boardwalk prevents erosion of the softer, ashy parts of the island. In addition to the volcanic cones, there are lava bombs, sticky looking scoria globs, and a few little lava tubes. The view from the summit is one of the postcard shots from the Galapagos. Looking towards Santiago Island one can see Sullivan Bay with Pinnacle Rock looming at a slightly alarming angle over it like a crudely formed obelisk. 

We climbed down to the landing and were greeted by a group of 11 penguins swimming just off shore. This was the largest assemblage of penguins were had seen on this trip. We had a brief snack and then jumped into the panga to be taken to the snorkel site on Sullivan Bay. 

The water clarity here was excellent. There were sea lions, but they were less interested in playing than others we have met. There were large schools of cardinal fish and some curiously pale blue chin parrotfish. We saw several pufferfish and a moray eel as well. The best thing however was a large white tip reef shark on the move rather than snoozing like most of the others we have seen. It was 6 feet or more and beautiful to see. We actually saw it twice and the second time was perhaps the best thing of the whole trip. The white tip was swimming about a foot below the surface along the rocks. I followed it a little ways and saw 3 sea lions going the other direction. All 3 turned and followed the shark,  appearing to nip at its tail as they did.

Our naturalist guide, Johan, was excellent! So enthusiastic and well informed on the human and natural history of the islands. He was very passionate about his calling as an advocate for the conservation of the islands through education.