Galapagos, Day 14: Up to My Neck in Lava

Ecuador Trip: Day 14

Galapagos Cruise: Day 9

Ever seen this picture? It’s probably one of the more photographed Galapagos Islands settings:

And for good reason. It’s a breathtaking view!

This shot is from the top of Bartholomew Island. That little white dot in the ocean to the right is a yacht or catamaran. The pointy rock it seems to be heading toward is Pinnacle Rock. To see this view in a magazine or on a postcard is breathtaking. To see it in person…well, there’s a reason our guide kept saying the Galapagos Islands were “paradise.”

To get to that amazing view on Day 9 of our cruise, we set out bright and early only to be faced with this hike:

Well, “hike” is a bit of an exaggeration. It was a steep walk up to the top of Bartholomew Island, but it’s not like hiking up a volcano. Well, actually it IS like hiking up a volcano, because Bartholomew Island is a volcano. But it’s not like hiking up a volcano on Isabela Island when it’s wet and sloppy and you don’t have nice wooden steps. All right, depending on your usual activities, it’s either a “hike” or a “steep walk” up a volcano with zero chance of precipitation and sliding onto your elbow a la Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone (as was my experience on Isabela Island). So I’ll go with calling Bartholomew Island a “steep walk.”

You can see a little windmill at the top. Okay, it’s probably not a windmill. It’s probably a marker of some kind. I can’t be expected to remember everything! Sheesh.

So the marker was a long ways away, and it was a warm morning. But on the way up, you get to look at stuff like this, so who’s complaining?

That’s the jetty where the pangas landed. We steep-walked up to the point in the previous photo, which was where I took THIS photo. Then we steep-walked up to the marker at the top.

At least we had a boardwalk of sorts.  You get a boardwalk, you’re steep-walking. Don’t be a wimp.

I know, I know, I’m one to talk, considering I visited the Galapagos relatively “early” in my life. If I can offer a Travel Tip! of any sort, visit the Galapagos in your personal best physical condition. Unless you’re a high-endurance athlete. Then you can visit the G.I. whenever. If you’re a granny from Sweden, probably 89 is a good age to visit. Swedish grannies could skip to the top and poke fun at the North Americans (like me) huffing and puffing our way along.

The problem (as I see it) is that, unless you’re super wealthy, you’re probably not visiting the Galapagos until mid-life somewhere. Or, you’re visiting the G.I. in your early twenties, but on a boat that sea lions wouldn’t venture onto. But you’re young. What do you care? You can handle it!

Me, I waited for mid-life. I wasn’t second-to-last-picked in gym class for nuttin’.

There’s a view of a spatter cone as we hiked up the 375 wooden steps. I know there were 375, because I just looked it up on my Cormorant Itinerary (although, Frommer’s Ecuador says there are only 372—who built the other three?). Apparently, the “walk” (they don’t even call it a “steep walk” on the itinerary) is 114 meters. A meter is roughly a yard. So it’s 114 yards. How many feet is that? About 342 feet. Or 4104 inches. So if you feel the need to take a breather, iz okay. Plenty of other travelers are taking a breather, otherwise known as “taking pictures.”

Never forget at least one bottle of water per person when you’re visiting Bartholomew. If your itinerary calls for you to visit Sullivan Bay on Santiago Island in the afternoon of that same day, stock up on TWO bottles of water. And take extra sunscreen. Because, at Sullivan Bay, man, you’re sweating it allllllllll off. You’re sweating off the backs of your knees. You’re sweating on your eyelashes. You’re sweating on—never mind.

We last saw Santiago Island on Day 6 of the Galapagos when we went snorkeling at Espumilla Beach and got mega-rained on. So, three days ago. On Day 9 of our cruise, there was not a drop of moisture in the air! Sullivan Bay, where the pangas dropped us off and we hiked all over lava, reminded me a lot of our hike on Moreno Point on Isabela Island, during Week 1. You need to be pretty able-footed for these “walks.” Your guide will always caution you to take a walking stick, which are plentiful on the Cormorant. Depending on your agility, take one. However, sometimes balancing the cameras with the walking sticks just becomes a PITA. On Moreno Point, I learned to rely more on my developing sense of balance and less on the stick.

A view from Santiago Island looking out toward Pinnacle Rock, which is on Bartholomew. Unless we were anchored in port, this was pretty much our busiest site. There are just so many areas to discover. So, even though there are a lot of boats anchored, while we were at Sullivan Bay, we were quite alone. Our 16-person group with guide, that is. The guides and boats do a wonderful job of not piling too many people on one “landing site” at one time.

You can also see, in the picture above, how rocky the lava was!

Below…looks like a moonscape!

We came across this hole in the lava. Harry looked at me and said, “Get in.” I wondered what he was on! “No,” I said. He said again, “Go on. Get in.”

“No way on earth I’m getting in that hole,” I said. See, I thought he was teasing. I didn’t realize it was SAFE to get in the hole. I didn’t realize he was providing a photo opp. The photo opp. would have been more clear if he’d said, “It’s all right. It’s a photo opp. You’ll look very brave if you’re the first to get in the hole. If you’re the second, you’ll just look like a follower.”

But he didn’t say any of that, so I refused to get in the hole. Instead, the youngest member of our group (by which I mean she was in her late twenties or early thirties, I can’t remember which) got in. THEN I realized it was quite safe. However, by now wasn’t the brave one! She was! Frog on a stick!

Not brave, but cute nonetheless. “Get in,” my eye!

So then we happened along another area of lava where Harry said to my husband, “Go ahead, lie down. It’s a human barbecue.”

Of course, by now we all knew it was PERFECTLY SAFE TO LIE DOWN (if a trifle hot). So Steve got to look all impressive by lying down and making a snow angel on the lava, like a slab of meat on a barbecue (except they don’t generally move):

I have a little video of Steve making the lava angel, but it’s on my Facebook page. Sooner or later, I’ll post all the videos to a YouTube account. However, “later” is more likely to occur than “sooner.” To see the lava angel video now, visit my Facebook page, click on Photos, then click on Videos.

Ever wonder what encroaching lava looks like? Imagine running from this baby if it were molten hot!

After visiting Sullivan Bay, you develop a whole new admiration for the survivors of Pompeii…

Until next time…Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!!