San Cristobal Island
When Charles Darwin came to the islands in 1835, he disembarked on Chatham Island first, known today as San Cristobal Island. He was fascinated by the geology of the place; and as an observer many of his first impressions on this place came from here, where he saw his first mockingbird.
Mockingbirds were a key element for his conclusions on the selection and adaptations of the species. After all he saw three out of the four species of mocking birds that live on the islands during his visit!
Being that the islands are located so close together, why do they each have different species? Well, Darwin noticed how the islands are different as well: they have different water temperatures, different altitudes, and they have different ages. During this week we have been able to witness the same, the islands are so diverse we could explore them for many more weeks and still be surprised! And today we close by visiting one of the oldest islands and finding new species for our list: red footed boobies, the San Cristobal mockingbird and the San Cristobal lava lizard.
Punta Pitt was our visit for the morning. The scenery is outstanding, with tuff cones around that have been carved by the wind and the water, water that in very rainy years formed waterfalls hard to imagine in this dry season.
Our hike took us to an amazing viewpoint where red footed boobies, red billed tropic birds and Nazca boobies covered the sky. The landscape, dry as it is now, was painted in red too, but a plant was the responsible cause for this: the Galápagos carpet weed. The green beach of our disembarkation was the place to relax after our hike.
We navigated to León Dormido to snorkel in the afternoon, where an impressive pinnacle rock hid a canal were Galápagos sharks were waiting to amaze us with their elegant movements. We circumnavigated the León Dormido to have a better view of the entire area.
The day was not yet over. In the evening we went to explore the capital of the islands, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, a charming town where sea lions and people share the roads along the sea. What a place! What a treasure the Galápagos are! As we often say: You might be leaving Galápagos tomorrow but we know the Galápagos will never leave you!
