Galápagos Day 7, Part 1: Punta Pitt

While San Cristóbal is home to one of the large cities of Galápagos, we spent the day with two uninhabited sites. The first, Punta Pitt, is renowned for its bachelor sea lion beach and as home to all three species of boobies. The hike is steep and slippery, with huge boulders, and a number of folks decided not to do it. They enjoyed zodiac rides and the beach instead. 

 Yes, I found a new panoramic program! This is the view of the harbor from the top. Our boat is the furthest out, with the black bottom. We did pass another group during our climb.

 But first, we ran along the shore for a bit, taking in the scenery. Each island is so incredibly different! Charles Darwin landed on San Cristóbal -- it was the first island he visited, actually. This volcanic region is on the northeastern end of the island.

 That's Brian, the videographer from Lindblad, catching up with the sea lions. The video of our trip is really fabulous!

 Part of our group, having disembarked from the zodiacs. This was a wet landing, so they were getting shoes on to go hiking.

 Yes, the sea lions were everywhere! I'm not using any zoom in these photos.

 Can you see the nails? Very powerful flippers for strong swimming.

 Just catching some morning zzzzz's.

 Now we're hiking. I love lava lizards!

 It's a bit hard to see the group, but they are going nearly straight up. The trail follows an old stream bed. I don't have trouble with the uphills, but was really glad that I took a walking stick for the way down -- it helped greatly on those steep boulders to have a "third leg."

  This is the view of the harbor about halfway up.

 I think this is some of the yellow cordia. I should know....

 Indeed! A San Cristóbal mockingbird! The only one we saw. This was the first mockingbird collected by Darwin, which, along with the finches, led him to his understanding of natural selection and evolution.

 Beautiful rocky cliffs. This volcanic tuff glows with the red sesuvium.

 Sesuvium, close up.

 My group's only sighting of the red-footed boobies. We did see blues and Nazcas this morning, and could spy some reds on the cliffs in the distance, but the only close-up we got was of this juvenile. BIG. Fluffy. No red feet. 

We also saw wandering tattlers, Sally lightfoot crabs, plovers, frigatebirds, and finches. We talked about this being the oldest of the islands, as it's the easternmost island. We discussed the Humboldt currents and the deep upwellings that they bring to the islands, moderating the water temperature and providing vital nutrients to the animals.

We also talked a bit of history, about Manuel Cobos founding the settlement at San Cristóbal in 1869. He was from Cuenca, and built a sugarcane plantation. Apparently he was a much-despised despot, and eventually his workers, who originally were convicts, revolted and killed him. Ah, island history.