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Isla Bartolome |
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The Galapagos Islands remain one of the great natural wonders of the world and few travel writers know them better than Lonely Planet author, Michael Grosberg. These are his Galapagos 'must-dos' Click to view Top 5 Galapagos Islands.
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Best For Penguins & Moonscapes (Bartolome) |
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 This island in the centre of the archipelago offers a rare chance to swim after frisky penguins and take in the view of a lunar-like landscape, all in the space of an afternoon. Picture postcard perfect, though not beautiful in conventional terms, Isla Bartolome is generally a 'must see' for the average boat tour. |
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A path, replete with wooden steps and staggered handrails that are welcome when the wind picks up and threatens to blow you down the lava slope, leads from the informal jetty to the 114m summit. Unlike many other landings in the islands, this one is dry which means it’s accessible to visitors of all ages and athletic abilities.
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 The 360 degree vistas from the top are dramatic since in contrast to the majority of the sites you will visit, this one is devoid of all life. It feels like either you are at the beginnings or end of creation and it’s easy to imagine why it took so long for people, other than fishermen or passing buccaneers, to find the islands worth inhabiting.
What’s wonderful about this site however is that it’s only a short climb back down; from unearthly and dry you can go to wet and wild in the space of an hour. Throw on your snorkel gear and take after the surprisingly quick Galapagos penguins. These aren’t the lumbering Emperors, now famous from the March of the Penguins and yes more recently Happy Feet, but they are equally easy to love and will playfully dart in and around you and can lap even the fastest swimmer. This is one of the, if not the closest place to Puerto Ayora, where you can see these penguin colonies.
While snorkelling in the cove, you may also run into marine turtles, graceful in the water unlike their land-bound cousins, and of course an immense variety of tropical fish.
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| See Galapagos Islands Overview for information on costs |
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