Bartolome Island & Santiago Island -- Part 2
a Long :) Snorkel, *Penguin* and a Lava Walk
here is a map of this area ... it is interactive, so you can move around and zoom in and out ...
after our Scenic Walk on Bartolome, we returned to the boat, grabbed our snorkel gear and headed back to the area around the Pinnacle rock ... by the way, ... this is all still BEFORE lunch ! ... we had very busy days!
right out of the dingy i saw this shark swim under me ...
there were thousands (literally) of fish called Stripped Salema swimming everywhere ... entire 'clouds' of them ...
with lots of other fishes swimming among, and under, including this Leather Bass ... i really like his markings ....
this is one of the few Anemone's that i've seen in the Galapagos ... they kind of look like 'bottle caps'
an entire area of pretty Cushion Sea Stars ...
this Chocolate Chip Sea Star is nothing new, but i like the Creole Fish that are with it ...very distinctive with those 3 white spots ... and a pretty red/pink color underneath ...
i mentioned that they fired bombs at the Pinnacle Rock .... this is one of the bombs that is still here from WWII ... it looks 'nice' with the fishes around it :) ...
and more sharks ... Washington took this incredible photo ! ... click to enlarge and check out his EYE ! ...
we saw a lot of sharks this snorkel ...
they are getting to be like the Turtles, Marine Iguanas, and Sea Lions ... hohumm :) ...
i don't get real excited about them ... but they are interesting ... especially if you can experience them UP CLOSE ! ....... Mom, i did NOT take this photo either! ....
here is a video that Washington took of them 'just cruising around the fish, and between boulders' .... very smooth, calm, graceful, and relaxed ...
then onto another area to look for something 'cuter' .... Penguins .... Penguins? you say .... 'Penguins?, they are only found in Antartica, where the water is really cold' ..... but, there are a few Galapagos Penguins here that arrived on the Humboldt Current, which brings cold water and nutrients from Antartica. therefore, it is the only Penguin that lives north of the equator in the wild. unfortunately a couple El Nino years that warmed the waters considerably killed many of them :(
they are small little 'birds' .... 19" and 5#, the third smallest species of penguin, but they are so cute !!!!!!!!!
as i've mentioned before, our Guide Washington is amazing ... he found this little one right away .....
he stood on this rock for quite awhile, letting us photograph him, turning around to show us all sides of him ... OMG.... he was SO CUTE ... i wanted to bring him home :) ...
he finally jumped into the water, ... surfaced, shook off water like a duck, ... and swam slowly, as we followed closely with our cameras ....
then he sped away .... they are VERY fast in the water when they want to be ..... it was another wonderful experience in my Galapagos adventure ... check out this video that i took ....
then we moved on to another area with lots of Cushion Sea Stars .....
the next 30min was to be spent relaxing on a nice small beach .... although i chose to stay in the water and snorkel .... surprise, huh?
i enjoyed the calm waters and 'nice' fishies that didn't swim away from me :) ....like this Azure ParrotFish ...
it was a quiet area with layers of underwater lava 'shelves', and the fishes were slow and relaxed, ... i had some luck photographing this beautifully-colored Streamer HogFish .... Streamer HogFish are one of the 'usual suspects', that i saw on my very first snorkel here and have seen each time i've snorkeled since ...
but this one in particular, was much prettier with more subtle blue-turqoise colors than any of the others i've seen ....
usually they are purple/pink/gray with a yellow stripe ... but this one was beautiful !
and very accommodating for me to dive down, stay still, and photograph them ! ...i was loving it !
there also was this FineScale TriggerFish ..... these guys are quite large .... up to 2'
he didn't mind me diving down time and time again, as long as i entered quietly and moved slowly along the bottom ...
this fish is NOT one of the 'usual suspects' ... so i was very excited to spend so much time with one ...
and a short video of snorkeling .....
the rest of the group had been on the beach .... so i finally came ashore and got in the dingy when they were ready to leave ...
***
back to the boat for lunch, and relax and edit photos for a couple of hours. at 4:45 we got in the dingys again and headed to the lava field on Santiago Island ....
this 'walking tour' is on a Lava Field that is 116 yrs old ..... in 1897 a volcano erupted and oozed lava for HUNDREDS of miles ....
this photo is from this morning on top of Bartolome .. you can see the black lava field in the background, flowing all the way into the water .... also note the several 'brown' hills ......... this is where we walked ...
this was impressive ... it was lava in all directions ....
all from a volcano that you can't even see from here ...
there is still VERY little vegetation .... the lava is 12' ... feet.... deep ! ....
incredible 'frozen' running, pooling lava formations ....
there are 2 kinds of lava: 'pahoehoe', a Hawaiian term, that refers to the lava that is very liquid in form and shape .... it has a very high temperature and more gas released, it forms very quickly, with all the gases evaporating immediately, letting it flow like water, ... or mud ...
some of it looks like 'rope' ....
beautiful shapes and designs !!!!!!!! ...
the other type of lava is call 'aa', this lava is very heavy with the gases being released slowly, the cooler the temperature, and less gas, mean it doesn't flow as well, the result being chunky bits that are sharp and will tear your shoes apart when you walk on it. there was not much 'aa' lava in the areas we walked ...
there were also 'hornitos', little ovens, formed when bubbles escape from hot lava to form mini-volcanoes ....
although it was almost all black, there were a few areas where minerals had surfaced, resulting in pretty colors ...
this was an incredible walk ... looking down at the lava, imagining what it would have been like when it was molten red hot and flowing ...... 116 years ago ....and it looks like it could have happened last month .... still, after all this time .. it looks the same ...... it was mind-blowing !
it was an abstract artists dream ... the shapes and forms were endless ...
we walked to those brown hills seen in the first photo .... this brown rock is lava from a prior eruption, 300,000 years ago .... that has 'softened' with time .... but still ... little vegetation ... you can see in the distance, where the new lava was winding it's way through these hills
we walked up there .... and strange how it just stopped here ... new lava, over old lava ..
obvious evidence of the plates shifting, showing large cracks in the lava ...
we watched the sun set .....
as we walked back to our dingy to return for dinner ...
back at the boat, we watched the almost-full moon rise before dinner .... that is Bartolome Island, with Pinnacle Rock on the left ...
we practiced timed-exposures with our cameras using the moon as a writing utensil ... Phillip showed us how to do this .... it was fun, i want to practice it more .... and i don't understand how this works, but there is a reflection in the water ?
i am really enjoying my 'Cruise Friends' ... couldn't ask for a greater group ! ...it's fun every minute !
WoW ... what a BUSY day !
No comments:
Post a Comment