Friday 30 May 2009 - Late Morning - Sullivan's Bay (Sante Cruz Island)

That's a long title I know. The location is right opposite Bartolome Island. It's the bay on the main land, Sant Fe. But the landscape could not be more different!

This is Sullivan's Bay. This is the land of LAVA.

Sullivan's Bay looks like its from a completely different time in a completely different galaxy, yet it's probably one of the youngest places on Earth.

These are the solidified lava flows of some of the most recent volcanic erruptions on Earth.

The last major erruption on Santiago was probably in the early 1900's. One observer aboard a sailing vessel reported that the ship approached the lava flow so closely that the pine tar used to seal the hull of the ship began to soften, and the captain had to hurry the ship away from the bay.

There are the most amazing lava flow formations!

I will have to make a completely different website dedicated to this place - every step revealed a different lava formation from a different time and lave flow. Despite the consistent black crystaline shimmer of the ground cover, the landscape was neither dead nor uninteresting. Every step was a revelation and an microcosm of speculation and analysis. That may sound silly but it was simply one of the most amazing and dynamic landscapes I have been priviledged to visit!!

There was virtually no sign of life. Yet the shapes and positions of the lava flows left no doubt that this place can MOVE and was that the Earth was ALIVE.