Friday, January 4, 2019; Sullivan Bay Isla Santiago and Isla Bartolomé

Friday, January 4, 2019; Sullivan Bay Isla Santiago and Isla Bartolomé

We awoke again to the sounds of chirping birds and Nadine’s lovely voice at 6:00AM.  We found ourselves anchored in Sullivan Bay, on Santiago Island. This was the most crowded anchorage we have encountered during our Galapagos visit, with 5 boats anchored around us.  We grabbed some cookies and coffee and prepared for our dry landing on the young lava flows on Santiago Island. 

Isla Bartolomé in background.

 Isla Santiago, Sullivan Bay landing site.

 Isla Santiago, Sullivan Bay landing site.

Santiago Island is characterized by brown eroded volcanic hills with sparse pioneer vegetation, but it is apparent that relatively new black lava flows burst forth from some of the eroded hillsides in more recent magma producing eruptions.  This had created vast aprons of black lava flowing out into the sea. 

It was onto the newer black lava flows that we made our dry landing on. The landing was a bit treacherous because the basalt lava is deceptively slippery near the water, where it can get coated with very slick algae.  We discovered this fact in the tide pools yesterday on Santa Cruz Island. Fortunately, everyone made the transfer OK. 

There was heavy overcast in the sky, but even at 6:30AM, it got quite warm on the lava bed. Everyone was glad we had opted to do the lava flow hike early in the day.  Later in the afternoon, it would likely have been intolerably hot.  

The lava bed has a highly irregular surface with many different textures of lava evident.  We saw plenty of the ropey lava, but there were also lots of lava tubes and what are called splatter pots, where lava under pressure has burst out through the surface, spraying liquid lava around forming a mini volcano. Some of these were an iridescent black color like an exotic ceramic sculpture. 

Nadine also pointed out a cast formed by a tree that had been enveloped by the flowing lava. The impression of the bark was evident.  

There were also places where smooth rounded bubbles of lava froze as it hardened on the surface, forming what looked like eagle eyes. 

These combined with the wavy and ropey textures to create the impression of faces with a bit of imagination applied.  We walked out to where we could look out over the vastness of this lava flow, which extends for miles beyond where we stood.  

We retreated off the lava flow back to the comfort of our boat for breakfast, which featured quiche, sausage, and pancakes made with sweet banana plantains, along with the usual papaya and pineapples. Then it was time for a quick change into our wet suits for a morning snorkeling trip. 

Last night, Mark B had noticed a lot of maintenance going on with the Zodiacs.  After launching today, one developed motor trouble, and had to be towed by the other to our snorkeling site, which was along the lava flows we had walked on earlier.  There were areas where the water was quite clear, and we saw a wide variety of novel creatures including octopuses, many white tipped and black tipped sharks, and sting rays.  We discovered that the sharks like to lie in underwater lava tubes.  We found one shark grotto that contained 3 sharks in an underwater tunnel not more than 6 feet long.
  

Rock Lobster!

Mark B loves to find shells on the bottom.

John and Price investigate something odd.

This bad boy puffer is over 16" long

Stingray has breakfast.

Eel pokes his head out for a look about.

Shark Grotto!

Shark Grotto!

Shark Grotto!

Shark Grotto!

We returned to the boat for lunch.  It turned out that the Zodiac with motor problems had an improperly installed fuel filter. After that was remedied, we were back to having two fully functional Zodiacs.  The boat motored the very short distance to Isla Bartolomé, which is recognized by a spire of eroded metamorphic ash, which when viewed from Santiago Island, looks like the outline of the Empire State building, only sunken into the sea at an odd angle.  It could have been used as an alternate ending to Planet of the Apes instead of the Statue of Liberty.

During lunch, we noticed that another boat had come along side and tied up to our swim platform. They were in need of fresh water, which the Galaxy II supplied to them via hoses.  During this transfer, we noticed several sharks circling the linked boats.  Some of these sharks appeared to be 4-6 feet in length.  Lunch was chicken legs and fried pork served with sweet plantains, red beans, avocados, south American Choclo corn, and a small potato like vegetable called melloca (meh-zshoca), that tasted a bit like a turnip in the shape of a miniature potato. 

We hit the water again after lunch for a second snorkeling session, this one off Bartholomew Island. The reef structures are similar with lava tubes, and tilted plates of eroded metamorphic ash interspersed.  There were a lot of shark sightings, as well as some penguins, and lots of the usual variety of fish. Most of us didn’t want to get out after an hour because the water was so clear and this was our last snorkeling excursion of the trip.  

Swimming with sharks.

Another stingray with friends.

These penguins nest in lava tube caves.

Yet another fine Mark B specimen.  Take only pictures.

Ciara and Tom underwater ballet.

We returned to the boat and stripped out of our wetsuits for the last time.  We will have to pack up a lot of wet gear in our luggage tonight.  We have become quick change artists on this trip, switching from aquatic to land modes twice or more a day.  We switched back into dry landing mode for a hike on Isla Bartolomé.  Mark C and his wife Jan decided to sit this activity out because it was so hot and uncomfortable towards the end of the lava field hike, and the destination of the hike, a viewing platform next to a navigational beacon at the top of the island, looked like quite a significant vertical elevation gain.  Our Zodiacs delivered us to some stone steps connected to a network of boardwalks and steps.

Looks can be deceiving- lava rock size vs weight.

There are formations in the brown hillsides that are indicative of both ash producing and lava producing eruptions in the past.  The metamorphic ash layers form parts of the slopes that erode into a very fine dark grey to brown sand.  There are 1-2 man sized boulders strewn about that look like they tumbled down the sides of the volcanic cones. Most are dense basalt, but there are some with significant gas entrapment with more pumice like characteristics.  Nadine had Riley hold one very large rock over her head, which was surprisingly light weight compared with a chunk of basalt  less than half its size.

We worked our way up the boardwalk, encountering two other groups of tourists.  The first was encountered at the landing area. They spoke no English, and weren’t interested in being friendly.  The other group was larger and contained Americans.  You could tell this because they were all snapping selfies at the top, and offered to help take our group pictures. Their guide was a good friend of Nadine’s as well.

We were rewarded with a marvelous overview of Bartholomew and Santiago Islands.  The weather had remained heavily overcast, so visibility of other surrounding islands was limited, but you did feel on top of the Galapagos from this vantage point.  It was clear why they saved this site for our last landing.

Mark C and his wife Jan rejoined us in the Zodiacs for a Zodiac ride around Bartholomew Island. The Pinnacle is a very remarkable structure, eroded largely by the wind, and constructed of a sandstone like material that is metamorphic volcanic ash.  

It was, in fact, a ridge at one point in time, but an errant bomb from a training mission during WWII caused it to separate from the mainland of Bartholomew Island.  That’s a form of erosion that is highly uncommon.  During our Zodiac ride, we encountered a group of penguins standing on rocks in front of some caves formed by lava tubes. These caves are where these penguins build their nests and raise their chicks. We didn’t see any chicks, but they are apparently fairly elusive.  

We returned to the boat and began packing up our things. We had our final briefing where the Captain and staff of the Galaxy II toasted us, and we them for a job well done.  Dinner was a choice of snapper or chuck steak, served with a stuffed eggplant appetizer, broccoli and cauliflower and rice.  Dessert was a rich and moist chocolate cake.  

After dinner, we had two adventurers fall prey to some sort of gastrointestinal illness with Tom and Erin both complaining of stomach aches and diarrhea.  With so many doctors in our party, both victims were soon under intensive care. 

Tomorrow, we should find ourselves back in the Marina on the south side of Santa Cruz.  We will tour a farm where there are many tortoises running around wild in the highlands of Santa Cruz before being deposited back at the Baltra Island Airport.  It’s saddening to think our Galapagos adventure is just about finished.