Santiago and Bartolome Islands
Santiago, Sullivan Bay Beach
With an 8:30 call time for our excursion, we were able to sleep in a little longer. We dressed and headed down to breakfast where Mary and Caren joined us and we talked about the day ahead. Mary joined us on our long lava rock walk excursion with Micaela as our naturalist once again. We motored past the Celebrity Xpedition on our way to the island, docking just behind tender 1 and climbed up the ladder and up a set of natural rock stairs to the lava field for our mile and a half hike.
Rope Lava Walk
Sullivan Bay is located on the eastern coast of Santiago Island and the landscape is only around 150 years old. Navigating over the black lava flow was not difficult but did mean looking a lot at our feet to make sure of our footing. The rope lava was very interesting and Micaela stopped to show us several interesting formations. We were given the opportunity to climb into one of the holes left by the lava tunnels as well as relax on a rope lava hillside.
The rope lava, known as pahoehoe is smooth and twisted but soon gave way to a'a (ouch-ouch) lava which is brittle and rocky. The lava does not spew from the volcano in the way one would usually think but instead flows through lava tubes underground and seeps out through the earth. Tall red scoria cones and pioneer plants also dot this unusual and very young landscape.
Red Dirt
Eventually we reached an area which Micaela described as moving from the Moon to Mars as the landscape was covered in red dust. We saw a candelabra cactus growing up out of the side of one of the hills and numerous examples of lichen and other small plants starting to form. The only wildlife were some locusts and a single lava lizard.
After the tender ride to the ship, we went to our room to relax for awhile. Janie's nap was interrupted by the return of our laundry so we put that away and then it was time for lunch. We opted for the 'creole' lunch in Seaside today but we didn't find it to be very creole, although the food was very good. Caren and Mary joined us again and Rusty and Sandy came down a little while into our meal. We went back to the room to gaze out the verandah window until it was time for Janie to leave for snorkeling.
Snorkeling
Janie had not enjoyed her first snorkeling experience and had been put off by the cruise director saying the deep water snorkeling as for 'experienced snorkelers only." But Rusty, Sandy, Caren and Jean convinced her that it was not difficult at all so she decided to try it. The group headed out on the same tender where they put into the water off the side of the zodiac. Janie used the underwater camera we had purchased for Rebecca to use scuba diving in March 2020, which had never been used due to the pandemic. She got some great pictures but decided that snorkeling really was not her favorite activity.
Puerto Egas Beach
We split up for our afternoon excursions. Janie wasn't feeling the steps involved on the long, steep, 'to the top' hike so she decided to take a tender ride and watch wildlife while J. R. went off with Rusty, Sandy and Jean and tackled the staircases. We landed in a small bay opposite Pinnacle Rock and began our 375 foot climb. The climb was not easy, with a lot of very uneven sized stairs but we took lots of breaks. The worse part was the final set of stairs where the handrails had been designed for toddlers, or maybe to get guests to bend over and sort of crawl up the stairs. We were all gasping for air when we reached the top, but were rewarded with a great view of the bay and the island. From there we could see Pinnacle Rock, the black lava flows of Sullivan Bay and the islands of Daphne Major and Minor.
Tendering
As we returned to the ship, we saw a sea lion lounging on the side of one of the tender boats, which was apparently fairly common.
Dinner Under The Stars
Upon our return, we were greeted with light snacks and the drink of the day, which was a margarita. We had a few of those and then listened to the future cruise vacations presentation. We decided to take advantage of the onboard offer and put down a placeholder for a future cruise.
Tonight we were doing "Dinner Under the Stars" on deck 7. We had booked this earlier in the week and mentioned it to Rusty and Sandy and asked them if they wanted to join us and they agreed and arranged the same night. So after the excursion briefing, we went upstairs with them. Sandy and Janie covered themselves in the provided blankets and we had drinks and ate dinner al fresco. There was only one other table in use, which turned out to be two guys from Orlando. Luis, the maitre'd, came up late to visit us and made us another couple of 'Luis specials', the white russian-like drink we had the night before. Then we all headed down to the bar for a nightcap before bed.
