The day started with a beautiful sunrise as we landed at Bartolome Island at 06:30 in the morning. The hike this morning was an energetic climb to the summit of the island where all of our guests learned about the geology of Galapagos while observing a number of splatter cones, tuff cones and lava tubes. The light was great for photography, so our guests dedicated a lot of their time to capture the scenic beauty of Bartolomé Island. It was 8 am and everybody got back onboard for breakfast.
After breakfast, starting at 09:15, our guest attended a snorkeling safety briefing in the lounge and afterward the distribution of snorkeling equipment on the sky deck of the National Geographic Islander. Starting at 10:30 our guests had the chance to go ashore to relax, swim and/or snorkel. The snorkelers had a fantastic time as they saw a good diversity of fish and invertebrates. Among them they encountered king angelfish, yellow tailed surgeonfish, white tip reef sharks, sea stars and sea cucumbers. Everybody had a great time as they learned about the Galapagos sea life. It was time for lunch so we headed back onboard.
By 15:30 our guests joined the expedition staff on a deep-water snorkeling adventure near the cliffs of Rabida Island. During this outing our guests had a wonderful time as they were able to swim and play with a group of young Galapagos sea lions that where swimming along the coast of this island.
After everybody changed to dry clothes, by 17:00, we departed for a short nature walk along the beach side of Rabida Island. The light was incredible as the sun started to set. Our guests used this opportunity to learn about the natural history of the Galapagos sea lion as we found groups of pups playing in a nursery area and next to them were some females nursing young. It was already 18:00 and we returned to the National Geographic Islander for cocktails, dinner and a good night’s sleep.
