The following day out the yacht trip was a lot longer........2.5 hours to be precise! Each way!! Apparently the Galapagos Park decides where one goes and changes the expected island to one of their choice at will! It depends on numbers! They only want 100 people per island per day so they decide which groups should be banded together! We were put with a group of backpackers and hikers! We were all 69+!! And where we were going would be quite a challenge!
So we were changed from Isla Santa Fe......... to Isla Bartolome. Not having done my research on this island I had no idea what to expect!
En route we were followed and played with by a group of dolphins.......
Delightful to watch!
Getting close to the island we were able to see what we were about to be expected to do! Climb that cone shaped extinct volcano!
This was described before getting there as climbing to get a great view! I think it was lost in
translation! I had no expectation of having to walk up steep (400+) steps plus winding uphill pathways to get to a 110m look out point. At midday in tropical heat and no shade! But as pointed out to us.....we were able to take the same photo as appears on google when one inputs Galapagos! I suppose one has to look at the positive side! But we could have all suffered heat stroke!
We did get to the top.......
and could look down on the path well traveled.........
... and passing the pinnacle rock was not at the top.......
The whole area was totally barren......NO ANIMALS!! Our reason for being here!
The Caldera was evident as we got off the boat......
So we were changed from Isla Santa Fe......... to Isla Bartolome. Not having done my research on this island I had no idea what to expect!
En route we were followed and played with by a group of dolphins.......
Delightful to watch!
Getting close to the island we were able to see what we were about to be expected to do! Climb that cone shaped extinct volcano!
This was described before getting there as climbing to get a great view! I think it was lost in
translation! I had no expectation of having to walk up steep (400+) steps plus winding uphill pathways to get to a 110m look out point. At midday in tropical heat and no shade! But as pointed out to us.....we were able to take the same photo as appears on google when one inputs Galapagos! I suppose one has to look at the positive side! But we could have all suffered heat stroke!
The whole area was totally barren......NO ANIMALS!! Our reason for being here!
The Caldera was evident as we got off the boat......
On climbing up it was abundantly evident that we were on a 'dead' island!
While the scenery was indeed very dramatic we would have preferred to remain at sea level and see the Galapagos animals!
We were very happy to get back to the pier to wait for the dingy and see evidence of life.........
... and even happier to be actually on the dingy heading away........
....but the Pinnacle Rock still looked forbidding as we passed.........
No comments:
Post a Comment