Fernandina and Isabela Islands, 9/12/2022, National Geographic Endeavour II
Aboard the
National Geographic Endeavour II
Galápagos
Our day began with the chance to take a sunny walk around Punta Espinoza on Fernandina Island. We spotted many iguanas among a bunch of sea lions. In the afternoon, we pointed out the island’s geological features as we took a ride in the dinghies along a massive flank of Ecuador Volcano on Punta Vicente Roca.
Bernardo, known by his friends and family as Bernie, was born In the Andean city of Quito, located in the highlands of Ecuador. His grandfather, however, moved to the Galapagos Islands in the mid-70s, and worked as one of the first Naturalist Guides,...
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Today we arrived at Española, the oldest island of the archipelago, in the southeastern realm of Galapagos. We started our activities early in the morning with snorkeling; some guests opted for deep-water snorkeling, to enjoy the deep blue with amazing marine wildlife at Gardner Islet, while others chose to snorkel from the beach. We finished our morning activities with a visit to Gardner Bay, to enjoy its coralline, stunningly soft white sand beach and turquoise waters. Later in the afternoon, we headed to Punta Suarez. There our guests enjoyed the presence of lots of sea lions playing at the coast. We also saw marine iguanas, gathering in large groups over old lava boulders for warmth. We observed many different birds as well, including blue-footed boobies, nesting Nazca boobies, and the Galapagos hawk. It was an amazing first full day in Galapagos!
Today was the final day of exploration on our cruise around the Galapagos Islands. We dropped anchor by breakfast time at Punta Pitt, the northern part of San Cristobal. Here we walked around an old tuff cone to find a new species of bird for our guests, the red-footed booby. These seabirds are tree nesters, and they are found in a handful of places in the archipelago. To the surprise of everyone we had some rain in the middle of the hike; we returned to the beach and enjoyed some time there. In the afternoon the ship moved to Cerro Brujo for our final outing of the voyage. Here our guests had their last swimming opportunity in the crystal-clear waters with three-foot waves. To end the day we moved to Kicker Rock, for a circumnavigation of the most famous islet in Galapagos, to enjoy some champagne and celebrate life.
After being in touch with pure nature for many days, we reached civilization for one day. After breakfast, some of us decided to visit the Charles Darwin Breeding Center to admire the conservation programs that take place there. This work not only encompasses the tortoises, but other species that have been threatened in previous centuries by introduced plants and animals. Despite the heat and humidity, we had the opportunity to support the local economy until we got split into groups to visit the highlands of the island. One group went to the sugarcane plantation and the other visited the hydroponic farm. Both visits made us realize how people make a living in a sustainable way that remains harmless to nature. We followed up our tours with a terrific lunch. When we were finished, it started to rain, but once it slowed down, most of us decided to walk with our ponchos to look for the giant tortoises roaming in the wild.
