Bartolomé Island and Sullivan Bay

Today we visit Bartolomé_Island and Sullivan Bay on the east side of Santiago Island.

I didn’t sleep at all last night. Talked with our guide, and Joshua, the bartender/waiter, will let me know what has MSG in it. He talked with me later after reading lots of ingredients on packages. There is MSG in the salad dressings, the spice mixes, some cookies and chips.

I got the remaining wet stuff hung out to dry in the sun up top before breakfast, it was dry by 10 am when we got back from the hike. The strong sun and a little wind are effective.

This morning starts with a hike to Bartolomé Island’s summit for a stronger perspective of the islands’ not-too-distant volcanic origins, and enjoy a panoramic view. We saw some penguins and a blue-footed booby from the panga on the way to the hike.

In the 1950s, Cuban cedar was introduced to the Galapagos. They are now working on eradicating it, they used it to construct boardwalk path to summit.

The hike was about a mile long up and back with a 300 ft elevation gain.

The Galapagos Lava lizard eats insects and plants.

Then it’s back to the boat and quickly get changed to snorkel.

Penguins in the water are fast, this one dove and went after the school of fish below. The school of fish parted where the penguin when the penguin swam through.

We also saw a sea lion swim through the school of fish and the school parted around it quickly.

The water is a little cooler here (hence the penguins) and I’ve been using a case for my action camera. The inside of the case fogs up in the cooler water after a bit. I’m going to try putting the action camera in the case in a colder environment, so there is less moisture in the case to fog up.

Lunch was set aside for me, grouper with a cornbread coating, steamed broccoli and cauliflower with no sauce as the sauce had MSG. I didn’t go through the buffet line and drank lots of water in an attempt to get the MSG flushed out. While eating lunch the ship moved to Sullivan Bay on the east side of Santiago Island.

In addition to the camera fogging up, my snorkel mask is also fogging. I cleaned my mask again to see if that helps. It’s probably the sunscreen rubbing off my face that is causing trouble.

After lunch, we go snorkeling first, we saw a penguin again, but I didn’t get video as it zoomed by. We saw an octopus, which can be a challenge to spot if they sit still and change color to match the surrounding rocks.

The sharks are shy, they are an exception to the general rule that the Galapagos wildlife doesn’t fear humans. The sharks tend to leave when spotted.

The action camera fogged up a bit, but still usable video. My mask behaved better.

When we got back to ship to quickly get ready for hiking, I got wet stuff hanging on top to dry before hiking.

Hiking at Sullivan bay lava fields. The lava fields on Sullivan Bay had their last lava flows in 1904-1906.

The birds don’t come out on the lava field as there is no food here. There are some shrubs around the edges of the lava field and I hear the birds over there. There are a few hardy plants that get started in a crack in the lava when a seed blows here and there is enough water in the crack. Over time the roots will help break down the lava.

The lava flows here are Pāhoehoe lava with a rope surface. The surface cooled faster than lower levels and ʻAʻā lava.

This lava field was used in the Master and Commander film.

We came back to the ship, and I watched the sunset from top deck while Donna took shower. I brought damp laundry down and took shower before briefing at 6:30 followed by supper at 7 pm. Supper had only one thing with MSG, the sauce on the chicken. They made two pieces of chicken without sauce for me, but also had a wonderful lasagna. I ended up eating only a half piece of lasagna and one of the two pieces of chicken.