Galapagos: Bartolome

Ed talked me into a day trip to Bartolome island. I'll admit it -- I was deeply leery of spending 5+ hours on a boat in open waters. But, it was a terrific outing! And, we got to visit what was consistently described as "the most photographed spot in the Galapagos."

These outings are on small yachts. Each boat carries a crew of 3-5 people (including a cook) and maybe 15-20 guests. Our trip to Bartolome included some interesting people, and it was fun to get to know them. Well, Ed got to know them -- I sat there catatonically staring at the horizon.

Here was our boat:


Bartolome is one of the youngest islands (technically, it's an islet) in the Galapagos. And so, it is mostly barren-looking rock.


Of course, once you start looking more closely, you can see emerging plant species, and an entire ecosystem of birds and reptiles (no known mammals yet).


These are lava lizards -- male above, and female below.


Visitors to this island follow a defined boardwalk trail up to the summit of the island. See below for an example of the trail. It's an easy climb, though it is primarily uphill the entire way.


From the top, you are rewarded with this amazing view of several larger Galapagan islands, plus the tall outcropping called Pinnacle Rock.



Our hike back down to the boat brought us into view of this interesting perfectly round lagoon. Here, we watched boobies (the bird) dive down repeatedly to catch fish.



We didn't catch any of this birding action on film, but enjoy this video from YouTube, if you're interested.


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