We woke up in Sullivan’s bay to visit a relatively new lava field on Isla Santiago. Friends that visited Galapagos told me that the lava fields are incredible. That review holds up. The fields were a brand new experience for me. Have you ever heated milk and that weird wrinkly skin forms on the top of the milk? Now, imagine that with rock. It’s a wild thing to look at and walk on. There is almost no life in the field. You may see a struggling plant, a lost lizard or a crab at the shoreline, but nothing else. It’s a beautiful and otherworldly landscape.
Lava Field
Photo Credit: Joshua Ferris
While we were boarding our dingy and group of people were snorkeling next to us. Two Galapagos penguins showed up to swim with those people! Our dingy driver took us across the bay to skirt Bartolome Island in search for more penguins. We only spotted one more.
Next, we went snorkeling along the coast of Sullivan’s Bay. Our guide dropped us off a bit prematurely and we fought the current for a few minutes. A group of us reboarded the dingy and jumped in at a better spot. In addition to many fantastic schools of brightly colored fish, twice I saw a shark, and once I saw a sea turtle.
After lunch and a nap, we returned to the island of Santa Cruz. On our way, I started writing this very entry, but fell asleep sitting up, pen in hand, in the common area of the boat! I was exhausted. At Santa Cruz, we hiked around Dragon’s Hill. When we landed, we met a number of lazy marine iguanas. The land iguana population is small, but is slowly growing. We saw 3 land iguanas and many birds.
We returned to the boat, took a quick swim and started sailing to Puerto Ayora. Sam was seasick again, but I made it through the night with no problems.
Next: Puerto Ayora
Rarely Pure & Never Simple 