Isabela & Fernandina Islands

The western side of the archipelago is full of surprises, today it was no exception. Early in the morning, while navigating along the shoreline of Isabela Island, we spotted a pod of Common dolphins. We enjoyed the acrobatic jumps of these charismatic animals, with a cup of coffee in hand, from our outer decks. It was a perfect morning’s beginning, but it was going to get better and better.

A spout in the distance! A whale! Not any whale but the largest whale in the oceans! The largest animal on the planet ever! Two Blue whales came very close to our ship. We were delighted! King Neptune definitely was being generous to us. To complete our morning, as we crossed the Equator line “King Neptune” came with some of his pirates and a piece of the line so we could physically cross it! It was a great and funny morning!

We anchored at Punta Vicente Roca in order to explore the shores of this beautiful cove: Galápagos penguins, sea turtles, flightless cormorants, frigate birds, blue-footed boobies and Nazca boobies, all came to meet us!

We visited Fernandina Island in the afternoon. This is the youngest and most pristine island in the archipelago. We walked through piles of marine iguanas basking and we were able to observe Flightless cormorants at a close range as well. The colors of sunset revealed the splendid “La Cumbre” volcano and the light created beautiful shadows in the interesting shapes of the pahoehoe lava fields. With this scenery captured in our minds forever, we left the western side of the archipelago behind, this day brought so many surprises to us, and it revealed the beauty of nature at its best.