We’d spend all of Day 13 anchored right about at the anchor spot on in the map above, just off Pinnacle rock. Morning would be a hike up the hill of the island to the right, then we’d snorkel around Pinnacle rock, then head over to the lave field on Santiago Island for the afternoon excursion. Not a great day for photography, and the snorkeling was ho-hum, but we did get some nice shark & penguin encounters, and had (underwater) front-row seats for blue-footed booby diving for fish.
Our morning hike would be upto the 115m summit, along a wooden walkway and stairs that kept us off the sensitive plants trying to establish a foothold. It was a beautiful sunrise, yet although advertised as an easy dry landing on a wooden dock, we immediately encountered a rather large obstacle.
Tui made an attempt at moving the big guy, but he wouldn’t budge. And no one dared try to sneak past him. I eventually took charge from the rear and walked around the side, along the rocks, then everyone else followed suit.
At the top of the summit it was cold, windy, and the sun wasn’t out. It’s a pretty view, but without the sun most of us ended up sitting down trying to find some shelter. We waited a while for the sun to break through, but it never really did. Some of our fellow photographers started making their way back down and, much to the consternation of Tui (who kept insisting the sun was about to come out if only we were patient), we all eventually followed.
In a few of the pictures above you can see our boat (the smaller of the two) off the Pinnacle. The beach we’d be on later that morning is also visible (on the right side of the narrow part of the island, just below left of the Pinnacle), and is where we’d snorkel. The black lava field we’d walk on later is visible on the horizon. And when we returned to the dock, the big sea lion hadn’t moved.
The snorkeling started right off the beach, and the water was quite shallow there for a ways out. There was a very large school of fish and the blue-footed booby were diving for them right in front of us. Pretty easy to capture – simply watch the bird above then when they started their dive make sure the GoPro was in the right location. My only regret was that I didn’t switch the GoPro into super slow mo, so this is at the regular frame rate, which isn’t quite fast enough to catch the incredible speed of the dives. There wasn’t much else around the Pinnacle, and we had swam quite a bit past the rest of the group looking for life, almost around the peninsula. We had been promised penguins – it even says so on the map! – but they hadn’t been spotted. Until…. Near the end of the snorkel we heard the rest of the group yell something, and as we turned around and looked a squad of penguins were headed straight towards us. They zipped right by like little torpedos! You can also see the sea bottom – just nothing but rocks around here.
And that was our last Galapagos snorkel. We still had 1 more full day of landed adventure, but it was best to let our wetsuits dry before packing them up. A very nice – and totally different than previous – snorkel to end on.
Our afternoon landing was directly across the bay, on Santiago island, to visit a relatively fresh (few hundred years?) lava field. The wide shots have people in them to provide perspective.
Photographically, this wasn’t stunning, but lava fields are inherently interesting to walk around on. There are 2 principal types of lava on Galapagos – Aa lava (pronounced ‘Ah Ah, they’re hurting my feet’). There wasn’t a lot of that in this particular place, except nearer the coast, but we did see plenty in other spots around the islands. This is the sharp, pointy lava that you’re probably used to experiencing. Pahoehoe lava is mostly what is in the pictures above. It’s smooth, thick lava – higher viscosity – and because of that forms all sorts of interesting shapes and folds. Some of the spots had beautiful colors as well, which presumably has to do with the way it cools and the minerals separate out.
This interesting feature below is due to a cactus that got overrun by the lava, left its imprint, and burned away.
At some point during the morning, I can’t remember if it was before or after the snorkel, we spent some time on the beach around Pinnacle rock (and the sun eventually did come out, briefly). The sand would gobble you up if you let it, and the water was so clear you can see stingrays swimming along, just a few feet away.
Over to SmugMug, or back to Day 12 (Chinese Hat and Rabida), or forward to Day 14.
