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Bartolome Island and Black Turtle Cove

Today we got to sleep in an extra half hour, since we didn't go on land until 7:45 (after breakfast).  We had a dry landing which means you disembark on some rocks rather than in the water next to the beach.  Bartolome Island is a another volcanic island, but has several cones and craters so looks like the landscape of the moon.  It is surrounded by steep, black volcanic cliffs where the blue footed boobies come to fish and the marine iguanas feed.  We once again were very lucky to come ashore when the marine iguanas were feeding on the green algae.  They only feed a couple of times a week because of their low metabolism, so to see them is not a common experience.  Lucky again! 

We also watched many blue footed boobies soaring, then dive bombing for their fish.  That was quite a sight!  They would come at you at top speed, then take a nose dive right into the water.  Most boobies are blind when they die because of this fishing method.  I wonder why they have not done some adapting to stop the blindness!

On this island, the park service has built wooden stairs and ramps to the top of the island in order to protect the fragile environment.  It is quite a hike up (345 steps )to 114 meters.  The walk was a good workout!  Once we got up and saw the views, the workout was well worth it.  We could view several of the other islands around and the volcanic cones, craters and pinnacles.  Fortunately, it was a bit overcast which made the heat off the volcanic rock bearable.

We snorkeled on the beach near the pinnacle.  We saw lots of schools of colorful fish, sea turtles, sea lions, 12" starfish, and a white tipped shark.  The sun came out while we were snorkeling and WOW, what beauty. 

We boarded the boat to have lunch and cruise to our next destination - Black Turtle Cove.  Black Turtle Cove is a mangrove area, so our entire excursion was in the panga (dingy).  We ventured into small coves and between mangroves into small areas to watch for the wildlife of the area.  We saw lots of big green sea turtles swimming and could hear them mating and see their splashing in the mangroves.  We also saw several brown spotted eagle rays, golden eagle rays, white and black tipped sharks, pelicans, boobies, black Galapagos cranes and other such creatures.  We were paddling through this area, so were right on top of many of the animals next to us or with them just a couple of feet below us in the clear water. 

When we left to go back to the boat, the sun was setting which made for a beautiful sky.  As we approached a bouy, we noticed that 3 sea lions had made themselves comfortable up on top of the bouy which was 4 or 5 feet out of the water.  As we came up, they just looked at us and rolled their eyes!  After all, we were in their territory now, so don't bother them!

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