This week’s expedition is coming to a close, and we have to maximize our time left in the Enchanted Islands. Today we visited San Cristóbal Island; at its northeastern tip, we find Punta Pitt, which is a cluster of very old tuff cones, now heavily eroded by rain, wind and wave action. The walls of the former cones still rise tall and majestic above sea level, and they are the home to various seabirds that find here suitable nesting spots and productive surrounding waters. The star species of the morning is the red-footed booby. There are five distinctive colonies located in the periphery of the archipelago, including Punta Pitt. They are pelagic feeders, foraging in a radius of sometimes over 100 miles from their colonies. In the afternoon, we visited Cerro Brujo with its stunning white-coralline beach. It was a last visit to the natural areas of this remote archipelago, an everlasting memory of this unique corner in our wonderful planet.
10/3/2024
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National Geographic Endeavour II
Bartholomew Island and Sombrero Chino
We split into groups for different excursions this morning. Four groups went up the staircase to the top for the iconic view over the isthmus of Bartholomew Island and Pinnacle Rock. We walked past exposed volcanic formations of all sorts: spatter cones, tuff cones, and lava tubes. Two other groups chose to explore along the coast by Zodiac in hopes of Galapagos penguin sightings. All of us were successful in what we hoped for and even the walkers saw penguins near the dock where we disembarked! Both snorkeling off the beach and deep-water outings along the backside of the island were tremendously productive because we saw it all: penguins and sharks being the top species, and diving blue-footed boobies too! The afternoon had National Geographic Endeavour II anchored not too far south, off the coast of Santiago Island near Sombrero Chino. A dramatically barren, small volcanic cone where another snorkeling outing was offered and late-afternoon Zodiac rides to search yet one more time for penguins. We can never get enough of them!