Arrival Two: Day Seven on the Island

It feels like it’s been a month, but today marks the end of my first week on San Cristobal island. I moved in with my new family, started getting accustomed to island life, began my evolutionary ecology class and four days later took the midterm.

Punta Pitt

This Saturday my class went to Punta Pitt, a cliff-side overlooking a green sand beach on the farthest tip of San Cristobal about 33 miles from the port town. We met the boat at 4:50 A.M. for the 3 hour journey. While the majority of the class slept inside the boat, I passed the time drinking coffee on the upper deck with the captain. The green sand which is composed of fine grain volcanic glass glimmered as we disembarked. We saw Red-Footed Boobies and an array of Trigger-fish species as we explored the area by hike and then by snorkel.

Leon Dormido or Kicker Rock

After Punta Pitt we headed to Leon Dormido, which in English is called Kicker Rock. In Spanish Leon Dormido means sleeping lion. The family I’m living with in San Cristobal owns a scuba tour company so I asked them about this name discrepancy. The main take-away was that from the air the rock formation off the coast of San Cristobal looks like a sleeping sea lion (hence Leon Dormido), but that the English gave it the name Kicker Rock around the same time so both names stuck. Leon Dormido is famous as a passage area for sharks in the Galapagos. I was happy we saw one. Amongst other things we also saw a tropical whale, a school of puffer-fish, sea lions, giant poisonous sea urchins, and green sea turtles.

Tropical Whale seen around Leon Dormido