We woke up to smooth seas around the northern side of Isabela Island. Our expedition Leader Carlos Romero announced a sighting of around three hundred common dolphins swimming along the coast of the largest island in the Galapagos archipelago.
After a delightful show given by the dolphins, we headed to breakfast. Soon we found ourselves disembarking on the lava fields of Punta Espinoza, the only visitor site on Fernandina Island. We were welcomed by the view of the youngest island of the archipelago, where many surprises awaited us. Over the barren lava flows, which at first sight seem lifeless, a large number of marine iguanas were seen basking, hugging each other, warming up. They served as excellent models for our budding photographers, who captured some incredible shots! We also encountered the Galapagos hawk, the top predator of the Islands.
Along the hike, we also encountered some flightless cormorants nesting, as well as sea lions and of course hundreds of marine iguanas basking under the equatorial sun, while other were swimming into the ocean in search of green algae.
After lunch, we dropped anchor at the southern end of the caldera of Ecuador Volcano, a visitor site known as Punta Vicente Roca. Afterwards we came back to explore the coastline by Zodiacs, with cameras in hand, observing for a second time the Galapagos penguins, sea lions, green sea turtles showing their heads, and flightless Cormorants drying the feathers of their tiny, vestigial wings!
After this full day, we returned to the National Geographic Endeavour to enjoy a delicious dinner. During the golden hour of the afternoon’s sunset, we celebrated the crossing of the Equator line while enjoying some wine tasting on the bow of the ship. An excellent way to close another day of discovery in the Galapagos Islands.
