The second full day of my Galapagos cruise was dedicated to geology: We visited two younger islands with significant traces of volcanic activity.

We spent to morning on and around the small island Bartolomé. However, before we turned to the volcanic landscape, we took a look at the wildlife there. Among this is the small Galápagos penguin, of which we have seen some specimen on a morning dinghy ride (even before breakfast). As far as we could observe, there might soon be one to three more of them.

After breakfast, we turned to the beautiful landscape. I especially enjoyed the view from the top of the island. From there, you can see almost the whole island Bartolomé. The view of the two opposing sandy bays of the island with the pointy Pinnacle Rock on the right is particularly iconic (and can be found on numerous postcards of the Galapagos islands).

After our hike, we snorkeled off the coast of Bartolomé. Finally, Galapagos really lived up to its reputation as an animal paradise, also under water: In addition to numerous smaller, sometimes very colorful fish, we have seen some eagle rays, a shark, a Galapagos penguin and three sea lions while snorkeling.

On the neighbouring island, Santiago, we walked around on the black lava rock deposited by the eruption of 1854/55. The rope-shaped Pāhoehoe lava is particularly interesting to look at (apart from the fact that an lava field of eight square kilometers is very impressive in itself). But even in the midst of the lava, life is already fighting back: For example, some lava cacti appear to be growing on bare rock.

Underwater, the growth is a bit stronger – strong enough to attract numerous small fish (which apparently accepted us snorkelers as one of their own, because they did not really seem bothered by us). The really big, more impressive species, though, have apparently not yet settled there.