Virtual Galápagos

Tuesday, 31 July

Our 2013 non-Phaeton adventures are just 19 days away.  Where will we go?  The unveiling of our plans will be posted soon.

In the meantime, the prospect of tons of new video footage to process was all the incentive Mui needed to finish the editing work on last year’s wonderful trip to the Galápagos.

If you’d like to take a virtual trip to the Galápagos and walk in our footsteps, click here to go to the online album we created on Vimeo.  You will get to visit Santiago, Rábida, Isabela, Bartolomé, Santa Cruz, North Seymour, San Cristóbal, and Kicker Rock; not to mention explore Quito and its environs with us.  You will get to enjoy close encounters with fearless wildlife on land and sea, and in the air; and get to do some snorkeling, too.

If you’re interested in the story of our trip, click here to go to the first of many posts from our Itinerary B Xpedition trip with Celebrity.  All of the posts are in the July 2012 archive in the sidebar.

Bartolomé: Snorkeling & Beach Time

Wednesday, July 11 (Part V)

After our hike to the top of Bartolomé (post here), we climbed into the zodiacs for the beach activities portion of the afternoon landing.  The ride was short; just over to the north beach, adjacent to Pinnacle Rock.  It was to be a wet landing, so we removed our trail hikers and socks, rolled up our pants legs, and jumped barefoot into the ankle-deep water.

The snorkeling bags had been transported from the ship while we were hiking and were already on the beach when we arrived.  Mui lost no time in gearing up and getting in the water.  When he finally came out an hour later, he didn’t even use words to describe the snorkel; just gave it “two thumbs up.”

My beach time was very quiet.  Except for a lone great blue heron, there wasn’t much in the way of wildlife.  The poor heron was being stalked by point & shooters.  Here's my short rant on this topic ... again.  There’s nothing wrong with using a P&S camera, but if that’s the choice, then one must accept the limitations that come with it and not bother the wildlife in the quest for close up pictures.

Finally, the heron got fed up and moved to the far end of the beach.  I followed at a distance, and sat down to enjoy its company when I caught up with him.  It was intent on fishing, but didn’t have much luck catching dinner.

It would be a shame if our actions change the behavior of the wildlife, causing
them to fear visitors.  that would ruin the experience for everyone.

Great blue herons could teach us a thing or two about patience.

My patience is rewarded when this heron moves a bit so I can capture
a  photo of it with Pinnacle Rock in the background.

Not finding what it was looking for, the heron moves back on the rocks.

As I was photographing the heron, my attention was caught by a pattern on the sand.  It looked like someone had rolled up tiny sand balls and created art on the beach.  When I saw a ghost crab burrow nearby, I figured it was something to do with them.  For all the patterns on the beach, I was surprised that not a single crab was in sight, not even ones scurrying to the safety of their burrows.

Ghost crab sand balls and burrow.
our naturalist later explained that ghost grabs eat the sand and spit it out as balls.

Eventually, I walked back to the landing site.  The zodiacs were already ferrying passengers back to the ship, but I opted to wait for Mui to come out of the water when timeout was called.  As always, we were amongst the last to return to the Xpedition.

Some snorkelers don’t venture out far; others go out as far as the naturalists
standing by in the zodiacs will allow them to go.

There was a wine and cheese tasting party on deck 4 aft, but we skipped that and used the time to get cleaned up from our hot afternoon landing.  Later, after the briefing on tomorrow’s activities, we joined the Passmans for dinner.

Our selections from the Day 4 Menu.

Fun though dinner was, we didn’t dally at the table.  Knowing that the ship was once again in waters where the crew is allowed to turn on the outside lights, we wanted to go out on deck and see what wildlife might be attracted to come close by.  We weren’t disappointed.  There was a feeding frenzy going on.  Blue-footed boobies and pelicans were flying and diving; their prey was the flying fish that occasionally hit the side of the ship and stun themselves; easy pickins for the birds.  There were also sharks and sea lions swimming about, although we didn’t see them feeding on anything.

Mui attempted to shoot some video.  Because it was so dark, it didn’t turn out great, but I’ll share a snippet anyway.

Check out the pelicans and the sharks.

We brought the night to a close with some stargazing on the bow of deck 6.  Our reward for staying up late was seeing a falling star.  Yes, I made a wish; no, I’m not going to share it.

Bartolomé: 380 Steps to the Top

Wednesday, 11 July (Part IV)

After our lava walk on Santiago Island (post here), we returned to the ship to find deck 4 aft all set up for a BBQ luncheon.  The Beagle Grill was serving up the sides and cooks slaving over hot charcoal grills along one side of the deck were grilling up corn, chicken, fish, lobster, burgers, and more.  There was also a pasta station preparing made-to-order fusilli.  Of course, there was a selection of desserts, too.  Grabbing a plate, we piled on the food and headed up to deck 5 to enjoy our meal.  A glass or two of sangria washed everything down quite nicely!

Since our afternoon landing was at Bartolomé, located just off Sullivan Bay, the ship stayed at anchor instead of transiting elsewhere.  We used most of the R&R time until our landing at 3:30p to relax on deck 6, but I also squeezed in Jorge’s short lecture on the geology of the archipelago for a bit of mental stimulation.  It was interesting to note that the youngest island on our itinerary is Isabela — about 1 million years old; and the oldest is San Cristobal — about 3.3 million years old.  We’ve yet to visit the latter.  By the way, the last volcanic activity in the islands was on Fernandina Island in 2009; nothing is brewing at the moment, and we’d like it to stay that way until we leave :-)

The arrow points to our afternoon landing location — Isla Bartolomé.
[map courtesy of the GalapagosIslands.com website]

Bartolomé (Bartholomew to the English) was named after a British Navy lieutenant.  The island consists of an extinct volcano and numerous volcanic features, such as tuff cones and spatter cones.  Though quite barren, it is one of the most visited and photographed of the islands.  I believe it; there were three other boats here with us.  They visited the island in the morning while we were exploring Sullivan Bay; we switched around in the afternoon.

The best known feature of Bartolomé is Pinnacle Rock, a tuff cone seemingly rising out of the water.  Partially eroded, it was formed by magma expelled from an underwater volcano.  Cooled by the sea, the hot lava exploded.  The bits and pieces of rock then bonded to form Pinnacle Rock.

(The harsh mid-day sun was not pleasing to my eye, so I ran an ‘aged filter’ on these photos during post-processing.)

Pinnacle Rock and a portion of Bartolomé island.
this prominent rock was used as a target by US Airmen during WWII.
It was also featured in the Russell Crowe movie, Master and Commander.

The other portion of Bartolomé island; this is the side we’ll be landing on.
And what will we be doing? …

… We’ll be hiking up 380 steps to the tip of the mountain on the right side.
The trail starts just behind the boat on the left.

There were two options to choose for the afternoon landing — long walk “to the top” and optional snorkeling, or zodiac ride and beach activities.  Even though option one was described as a steep, .8-mile (1.2 km) roundtrip hike climbing 380 steps to the 375-foot (114 m) summit of the mountain, there was never any doubt that we were “going to the top.”  That we had a panga cruise along the rocks first came as a surprise, but I think the naturalist was just killing time to ensure enough distance between the groups that were climbing all those steps.  No complaints from us.

One of the smallest of the penguin species, the Galápagos penguins stand
just 16 inches (40 cm) tall.

Looks like this Lava heron is dining on a grasshopper.

One gulp, and the grasshopper is history.

Sally Lightfoot Crabs

This lava heron is still on the hunt for a meal!

In the water, Galápagos penguins must keep an eye out for sharks, fur seals, and sea lions.

Snorkeling Penguins!

We made a dry landing on the island.  The trail started out with a concrete path and steps, but quickly turned into a boardwalk (constructed by the national park service to protect the land from erosion), followed by wooden steps.  The group, as a whole, maintained a pretty stiff pace, but I just took my time.  In the afternoon heat, I wasn’t about to over-exert myself.  Besides, I had pictures to take and scenery to enjoy.

We’re welcomed to Bartolomé by a juvenile marine iguana …

… that patiently poses for a portrait shot!

Stopping near a pile of sea lion bones, David talks briefly about the recent rise in mortality rates.

Glimpse of a submerged volcanic crater with Pinnacle Rock across the bay.

What appears to be dead brush is actually Tiquilia Plants, commonly known as
crinklemat.  There are four species of this plant that are endemic to the islands.
Their leaves are covered with small gray hairs, which help prevent moisture
evaporation and reflect sunlight.

And so the climb to the top begins.  Along the way we see interesting lava channels.

Have you eaten your Wheaties?  We have!
Those rocks aren’t as light as we make them out to be!!!!

The lava cactus is considered a vulnerable species based on its restricted distribution.

Two to Travel makes it to the top for the iconic photo-op of Bartolomé and Pinnacle Rock.
[a morning visit would have been better for light conditions.]

Looking across the spatter cones and craters of Bartolomé to the lava fields of
Santiago and the islands of the archipelago beyond.  I’m told that It’s possible to see
Santa Cruz, Baltra, North Seymour, and RábidA from here; Couldn’t tell you which is which.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin is said to have described Bartolomé as being “… more like the surface of the moon than any other place on earth.”  Since I haven’t been to the moon myself, I’ll have to take his word for it.  It is a barren landscape with a stark beauty that captures one’s imagination — no doubt about that.

Too bad about the light; here’s a B&W rendition of the scenery looking across
the other side of Bartolomé out towards the lava fields of Santiago.

What goes up, must come down.  And so did we.  Despite some broken steps here and there, the walk down was easier.  Perhaps it just felt that way because there was snorkeling and beach time to look forward to …