Day 15: San Salvador, Galapagos Islands: May 12th
On Sunday we were very busy hiking the lava field in Sullivan Bay and then taking a boat ride along the shore. Later in the day we also snorkeled from Sullivan Bay and Bartolome, and then hiked to the top of Bartolome.
The big rock in the center of the bay is known as Bartolome Pinnacle
Lava cacti, grows out of the lava and is so strong it can crack the lava.
The Basaltic magma produces two characteristic types of lava flows. Since most of the research on island vulcanism has been performed in Hawaii, the names of these flows are hawaiian – pahoehoe (“ropy”) and aa (“hurt”). These two types of flows have distinctly different appearances, although their chemical make-up may be quite similar. In Sullivan’s bay we saw the pahoehoe version and it very much looked like rope or intestines.
Half our crew toured the cliffs of Bahia Sullivan looking for blue footed Boobies.
We spotted although some of the coloring was very light. We really wanted to find one with electric blue feet!
View from our hike to the top of Bartolome. In the center of the photo you can see the outline of a circle which was a volcanic crater. In the background is the Pinnacle that this spot is famous for.
We encountered another lava lizard that we encounter in our hike to the top of Bartolome.
The view from the top of Bartolome is amaming. We could make out former volcanic craters in the foreground.
We found some of the famous Galapagos Penguins, only found in the Galapagos, and the only penguins north of the equator. They are very short, only about 18 to 21 inches. But, the are incredibly fast. One blew by me when I was snorkeling and I could only catch a glimpse.
We had a lovely sunset in Sullivan Bay from our ship.When we returned back to our ship after the last hike of the day in early evening, a sea lion was napping on our back deck! This guy hung around until our ship started moving and then dove off.