Today we went for a walk on Sullivan Bay on James Island and Bartolome Island. We’ve noticed that despite being right next to each other, the formation of the islands appears to be totally different. Yesterday at Playa Las Bachas the beach had all these lava rocks scattered across the beach as if a volcano had spit them out.
Then at Sullivan Bay, an underwater volcano spewed this river of lava across the landscape making it look like a moonscape.
In fact you can see where the lava was flowing and bubbling.
Yet on Bartolome Island right next door, you can see lots of craters and the rock is mostly brown pumice type rock rather than black glassy lava.
And occasionally you see lava rocks with bright pink and yellow mixed in.
And tomorrow we will see James Island that appears sedimentary in nature.
And then later the bright red rock at Isla Rabida.
Wish we knew why the islands developed so completely differently. Alas we have such a lame guide on this trip that he tells us all about how the Galapagos Park service moved a pathway from where it used to be to another location, or how the park used to let the guides go places they don’t anymore, or if you’re lucky, he might point out a lava tube, but appears to have no information on how it got there. Sigh. This is our guide, Alfonzo.
