April 20th – Bartholome Island
Lay at anchor until about 0330, then el piloto fired up the engines and made way for Cousin Rock. Mike and I awoke when the engines fired up and went up to the sun deck (moon deck?) for a look at the Southern Cross. No pollution, and the Milky Way is so bright here that it illuminates the whole sky. The few parts of the sky that weren’t full of stars were dark, black velvet. Except for the muffled humm of the engines, the silence here is total. Back to bed, slept until 0600.
Mike brought coffee to the room as I nervously prepared for today’s adventure. Both morning dives were at Cousin Rock, just off the bay of Bartholome Island and Pinnacle Rock.
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We circled the Rock at any depth we wanted – it’s basically a triangular rock, tapering off at 30 feet on one side (the point) and straight vertical walls on three sides. See the dive log! The dives were wonderful: Eagle rays, hammerhead, turtles, HUGE yellow bristleworms, and the highlight was watching a tiger nudibranch eat a blue nudibranch! The shell-less sea snail extrudes its stomach and engulfs the dinner entrée, and retracts itself and prey back inside in the blink of an eye.
After lunch and a short rest, we snorkeled around Pinnacle Rock on Bartholome and got close up looks at Galapagos penguins. These cute little critters are white on the front, dark on the back, and when you approach and they feel threatened, they simply turn their backs to you for camouflage. They then blend in well with the lava rock in front of them.
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Also saw more blue footed boobies, Sally-Light Foot crabs, marine iguanas, frigate birds, pelicans, and a beautiful great Blue Heron.
Back to the boat at 1430, for a very quick clothing change to shorts and hiking shoes for the climb to the top of the volcano on Bartholome. It was a long hot climb over black volcanic lava rock with fearless lava lizards scurrying underfoot. Once on the summit, the view was more than adequate payment for our efforts. Below us spread the bay with boats at anchor at the foot of Pinnacle Rock. In the background, James Island reared its volcanic shoulders against the horizon.
Upon our return, Walter met us with a tray of fried plantain and creamed cheese/chive dip. Also fresh sliced apple and lemonade, I could get used to this.
Napped until the dinner bell sounded, dined, visited a short while and hit the bunk early, about 2030.
The boat will be under way all night in the 114 mile haul to Wolf and Darwin Islands. These dive sites are known for their large schools of hammerheads.
