San Cristobal Island – Cerro Brujo
The second part of the last day, the ship moved to the north side of San Cristobal Island to Cerro Brujo, which translates as Wizard’s Hill. We did an easy wet landing onto an amazing beach where we went swimming (and a few people who had their own gear snorkeled).
The sand on the beach is white and is an organic sand, i.e. one made of carbon from things like broken down coral rather than minerals like silicon dioxide. This sand feels different from inorganic sand. It is softer on the feet and was not hot from the sun. Really weird.
A visual highlight in this area is the remains of a volcanic tuff cone that is set offshore from Cerro Brujo. There are day trips from the town on San Cristobal (Puerta Bazquiero Moreno) to this place for snorkeling so it popular in on-line trip reports. This rock extends nearly 500 feet above the water and has shear sides. Our visit featured the ship sailing all the way around it, but not a stop.
Like so many things in the Galapagos, the rock has several names. One is “leon dormido” or sleeping lion, but I don’t think we found the angle for this.
Another is “kicker rock” apparently because erosion has caused it to look like a boot, again from some angles. This seems awfully modern and English, but maybe some old English sailors called it that. Who knows.
