Isabela and Fernandina Island

Today we are had a great time visiting the western Galápagos Islands. In this part of the archipelago, you find the most impressive volcanic landscapes and the typical shield shaped volcanoes.

These two islands are the youngest of the archipelago. Isabela is less than a million years old, and Fernandina not even half-a-million years old. As you approach the shore all you see is lava – endless lava fields of a black and brown color.

At the beginning of the day we encountered a pod of dolphins and large number of seabirds foraging in the nutrient rich western waters. Besides the different types of birds, we also found a number of sea lions far offshore foraging as well. All these activities happened in the waters north of Isabella. This particular spot used to be hunting area for the whalers back in the 1800s.

We started the day with a Zodiac ride exploring the shore of Isabella at Punta Vicente Roca on the north side of the island.

At first glance, all you see at the coastline is a pile of shapeless boulders. But as you analyze the area, life starts to manifest itself in a variety of forms. Sally lightfoot crabs, sea lions, large marine iguanas, seabirds just to mention a few of them. The highlight of the place was the ocean sun fish showing us its large dorsal fin as it swam very close to the Zodiac.

Here, in this region we found the two flightless birds of the Galápagos: the flightless cormorant and the Galápagos penguin. Another highlight of the island was swimming with sea turtles.

In the late afternoon we disembarked at Punta Espinosa on Fernandina Island. This time we went for a walk on the new lavas produced by this restless volcano that continuously shapes the landscape with new lava flows.

This place is home to a variety of organisms such as crabs, sea lions, flightless cormorants, blue-footed boobies and the largest colony of marine iguanas that can possibly exist.

At the end of all these activities, we returned to National Geographic Endeavour for a drink at sunset and we could see one of the weirdest shows of nature – a green flash!

Our expedition still goes on and I can’t wait to see more!